Always There
by Steph Berg
Summary: Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**Always There**

**1. Unexpected **

_Fuck. _

His head was pounding so heavily that he thought he would pass out at any moment. His eyes were heavy and his vision was a little blurry, but he could surely see that the living room was a big mess and that lots of cans of beer and uncountable vodka bottles were lying on the ground.

He sighed heavily, finally taking his time to sit straight, noticing that there were other people in the room, sleeping tight on the floor and on the other sofas. Probably the apartment was still packed with people crashing at the bedrooms, and he couldn't care less about it. Looking down, he noticed he was only wearing a pair of boxers, and a smug smile crossed his face as soon as he remembered how he managed to hook up with more girls than he could count.

Nathan Scott was feeling lucky that day, even though his head was killing him real bad.

Getting up slowly, he made his way to the bathroom down the hall, taking his cell phone with him in the process and thinking about the schedule for the day. It was Monday, and he was pretty sure his dad managed to make this a living hell by assigning him to attend to that stupid meeting with all that old guys, who wanted nothing more than his money. He sighed again, while finally hitting the shower, happy when the water ran trough his body, relaxing him right away. He wished he could just get on his bike and get lost for some weeks, away from his dad and everything else.

Unfortunately, things were not that easy.

His phone started ringing right away when he stepped out of the shower, and his head started hurting again.

When Lucas' name flashed on the screen, he clearly relaxed a bit.

"What?" Nathan answered, rudely, as always. He was not in a good mood in the mornings, especially if he had a headache.

"Hey, Nate, it's good to see you're already up and happy." Lucas' voice was cheery, and for some reason, it just pissed Nathan off.

"Fuck you." Nathan spat. "What do you want, Lucas? It's fucking early for you to be calling, don't you think?"

"Just remind you that you have this meeting today… dad would be really pissed if you skipped it like last week."

"You don't have to remind me about it, man. It's not like I'm in need of a babysitter."

"Are you sure?" Lucas chuckled and Nathan rolled his eyes, pissed off already. "You're not what I would call responsible."

"Like I said before, fuck you. You can take care of your life, and leave mine to me." Nathan said, smirking to himself. Lucas was a good brother, but sometimes he just forgot the fact that Nathan was an adult. "Look, I got to go now."

"Yeah, ok. See you at lunch? We can meet up at the place you like."

"That sounds good. I'll call you as soon as I finish the meeting."

"Right, bro. See you later. Have fun." Lucas laughed, before finally hanging up.

Nathan rolled his eyes again, and made his way to his bedroom, not even bothering to wrap a towel around his waist. He was not surprised to see three girls sleeping on his bed. One of them seemed to be almost awake though.

'_It wouldn't kill if I got just a little bit late for the meeting again.' _

He smirked, the girl finally sitting up straight, wearing nothing but panties. He was so going to need another shower after that…

**XxX**

"Where were you, Nathan?"

"I'm here now, right? No need to wonder where I was. Stop bragging about it, Clay…" Nathan continued walking down the corridor. He was wearing a black suit, black pants and a dark blue tie. Black sunglasses were covering his eyes, and he was walking around like he owned everything. Well, yes, he did own the place, but he surely wanted to make sure that everybody knew that he was there already.

"You're crazy." Clay chuckled.

"No, I'm not. I would be, if I skipped the hot sex I had this morning, just to arrive here earlier."

"This is so like you…"

"Don't blame me if you're not getting laid, Clay… I am, and I totally can tell that it's more fun than attending these stupid meetings all the time."

"Yes, but this is your job. You're the fucking CEO for god's sake!"

Clay watched Nathan ignore his comment. Then he greeted some of the secretaries on their way, making them giggle.

"Whatever. Let's get this shit finished, I have to meet Lucas for lunch and I have tons of better things to do later."

"Meaning…"

"Well, it means that I have a hot date." Nathan smiled at him, walking faster. He checked the time on his Rolex and noticed it was getting really late. Dan would be pissed. Well, not that Nathan cared. Dan was _always _pissed at him, no matter what.

"You're unbelievable." Clay laughed at his friend, as they reached the meeting room. "Let's do it. You at least know what is on the schedule for this meeting?"

"No idea." He answered, a playful smile on his lips.

Nathan walked in fast, a small smile playing on his lips as he heard some gasps. His dad was at the other side of the table, and he looked annoyed. The room was full of people, and they were all just waiting for him to show up about an hour ago.

"Good morning." Nathan greeted them, opening the file in front of him with a smile, without taking his sunglasses off. Dan eyed him again. "How was the weekend? Mine was surely great. I hope you all had some fun."

"We're not waiting here for an hour to hear about your weekend adventures, Nathan." Dan finally spoke up, and some of the people in the room looked away, feeling the tension. Nathan only smiled at him, taking his glasses off and putting them to rest on the table. "Can we please start with the meeting already? There are a lot of things we need to discuss in order to-"

"I know the drill, dad." Nathan cut him off, now with a serious face. "Well, as you might know, we were facing some issues in our filial in Austin, but I already took care of that. I sent someone to fix the problems, and I can assure you guys that it's taken care of."

"Mr. Scott, I'd like to remind you that we need to take a decision about the deal with Chevrolet Motors." One of the men spoke up and Nathan nodded, smiling a bit. "They already called some of our staff to know the answer about the contract. They are really interested in leaving us in charge of the job, and this would be a great advance to-"

"I got it, Mr. Newman." Nathan cut the old man off, shaking his head a little. "But I still don't have a position about this one."

"Nathan. This is a lot of money we're talking about here!" Dan glared at him, visibly mad at his response.

"I know they can do better." Nathan smirked. "If we can make some real money with this one, let's take our best shot. Clay, I want you to reformulate the contract. I think the price you guys set is a little low. This is the best software programming company around and our work is _not _cheap."

"Sir, I think that this is unnecessary-" One of the directors decided to try and make him accept the contract already.

"I'm certain that this is for the best. Clay, you can work on this today." Nathan insisted, ignoring the guy. "You guys will be thanking me after they sign this tomorrow."

Dan shifted on his chair, muttering things under his breath. Nathan was driving him crazy with his strange way of dealing with his company, and he did not like it. A while ago, before he decided that Nathan would be the new CEO, he thought it was a great decision: his son needed to have more responsibilities and being in charge of a large company like this was certainly something big. Turned out that Nathan was more involved in getting laid and wasted than anything else, and this was starting to worry him a lot.

"The price you want to put in the contract is totally overrated, Nathan. You'll make us lose this one."

"We won't lose it, dad, just trust me. I know what I'm doing." Nathan put his sunglasses back on.

One of the men shook his head at the young man and continued looking trough the papers.

"We still need a decision about keeping or not the sixty employees-"

"We're keeping them." Nathan pointed at the man with his pen, not even bothering to let him finish the sentence. Some of them started whispering around the room, and Nathan couldn't care less about what they thought. He was not going to fire sixty people just because they wanted to cut down on some expenses.

Nathan noticed his dad was about to say something, but he managed to cut him off as soon as the older man opened his mouth.

"I bet they need the job, dad. Besides, I really like Jake, and I don't want to fire him."

"Who the hell is Jake?" Dan asked him, totally mad by now. He couldn't care less about these guys. He just needed Nathan to sign the damn papers so they could just get rid of them already.

"You should get to know your employees better, dad. I know that we're going to extinguish that division of the company, but I'm sure that these guys are good and can work on another one. No real need to fire them. Especially, not right away."

"Great decision, Mr. Scott." Clay praised his best friend, patting his back. He knew it would annoy Dan Scott even more, and he was enjoying it as much as Nathan was. "I'm going to take a note on that… and consider it done about the new contract we'll send to Chevrolet Motors. I'll get it to them first thing tomorrow."

"Good." Nathan clapped his hands together, looked around with a bright smile and then stand up, getting his briefcase. "I guess this is all for now, I'll see you next Monday."

Nathan made his way out of the meeting room with a big smile on his face, Clay following right behind. They walked in silence until they reached Nathan's office and then they finally relaxed.

"Thank God it's finished. There's nothing that I hate more than facing those bastards." Nathan sighed, taking a sit on his comfortable chair. "All they really want is to take the charge of this shit, I know it. Dad is the only one who can't see it."

"You were awesome." Clay let out a laugh. "They seemed pretty mad at you though. Especially your dad."

"He can be mad, I don't really give a fuck about what he thinks. I swear, Clay, I'm really tired of him trying to set rules to me every fucking minute."

Clay nodded his head, but didn't say a word. He didn't like Dan Scott that much, but he was not going to feed Nathan's anger towards his own father. It was his problem, and although he and Nathan were real close friends, he tended to stay out of his friend's relationship with his dad.

Dan stormed into the office right after that, and Nathan sighed, clearly tired of his bragging. He was surely not in the mood to deal with his dad now.

"What do you think you're doing, Nathan? Are you trying to ruin my company? Do you think this is some kind of joke? Well, I don't, that's for sure!" Dan's voice boomed and Clay flinched a little. Nathan, on the other hand, was totally calm.

"Who said anything about this being a joke?" Nathan asked with his voice down. "I'm just doing my fucking job."

"Watch your language." Dan narrowed his eyes. "I don't want you to be acting this way anymore. This is the fourth time you arrive late and mess with the meeting. You're not following the directions I gave to you, Nathan! This is not right."

"You should relax, dad. Everything is going to be okay. You'll see."

"Yeah, it really is, son. 'Cause you can be sure that I'll do something about it. I worked a lot to build this company, and you are so not going to burn it down."

"Whatever, dad. I need to go and meet Lucas."

"Just keep that in mind, Nathan. If you continue acting like this, things will get pretty ugly. We'll talk later."

"Yeah, ok." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Tell your brother to call me tomorrow." Dan told him, before nodding briefly at Clay and leaving the room.

Nathan shook his head and then smiled at his friend.

"He is pissed."

"Yeah, he is going to do something." Clay told him and Nathan didn't seem to care.

"He can do whatever he wants. I'm tired of him bossing me around all the time. C'mon, let's go. Do you need a ride somewhere?"

"No, I'm fine. I actually need to have some work done today, I think I'll stay and work on that contract."

"I really don't know what your problem is." Nathan chuckled.

"Actually, you needed to be here too. There are a lot of things to do-"

"You're starting to sound like Dan now." Nathan stopped him, shaking his hands.

"Are you coming back today?" Clay asked him, although he was sure Nathan would not.

"I don't think so. I'm going to meet Lucas for lunch, after that I'll go to the gym, and then I'll go home and get ready for later."

"So you really have a hot date." Clay smirked.

"Always." Nathan took hold of his briefcase and opened the door, finally deciding to go. "See you tomorrow, man."

"See you!"

**XxX**

"I bet it was a great meeting." Lucas chuckled and put his fork down, taking a sip of his soda afterwards.

Nathan laughed lightly and shook his head.

"Dan probably wants to murder you now." Lucas continued. "He was very excited about that contract, and you just postponed it."

"I'm not crazy, Luke. I'm pretty sure they'll still want us to do the job, I can tell."

"Well, what if they don't?"

"They will." Nathan smirked. "You know how I'm always right."

Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother.

"Yeah, whatever. Thank god I have nothing to do with this company."

"Lucky you." Nathan smiled, sipping his drink.

"If you hate it so much, Nate, why don't you just quit the job already and go do something else? You see, I'm happy being a lawyer."

"Yeah, and dad thinks you're a loser." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"But I'm not, and I don't care about what he thinks. You don't need to act this way, Nathan… I mean… you don't really need to keep up with his wishes. You can be whatever you want, Nate."

Nathan shook his head slowly. Lucas was probably right, he could be anything else in the world, and he could be whatever he wanted. Truth is, the only thing that he actually wanted to be, was taken off of him long time ago.

"You know that's not the case." Nathan spoke up after a while. "I don't dislike the job… really. I just want to have some fun. And of course, piss dad off plays a big role in this."

Lucas chuckled.

"You're unbelievable. But seriously, Nate, just be careful. You have a big responsibility ahead of you, and you know how the press loves to dig in your affairs and parties, whatever. This is not good for the company and you know it."

"I do." Nathan nodded. "But, really, Luke, this is my fucking life. I can do whatever I want. Dad decided to stand out of the company's decisions, named me as the new CEO and passed to me the major part of the assets. The point is, he doesn't let me do the fucking job, and he wants to tell me what to do all the time."

"He can be an ass and I know it, Nathan, but maybe he's just trying to lead you in the right way."

"You know it's not the case, Luke. I wish he would leave me the fuck alone. It seems like he doesn't want me in charge of anything. I mean, I'm the one who should make the decisions, but he always want to have his way with everything. I know the company is his too, but it's not like he can use me to do what he wants. I'm really getting tired of this, Luke."

Nathan knew it had to be just another vile plan of his to make his life a living hell. Dan was always like that since Nathan could remember. Everything he wanted to achieve, Dan would be happy to snatch it from his hands. First it was basketball, and then, everything else. Since their mother passed away years ago, things became really difficult for him, more than for Lucas. Dan was a real asshole to the two of them, but Nathan always got the worst part. Dan always told Nathan that he was the one that looked like him the most. He would make sure that Nathan knew that they looked like each other, and how Nathan was great with the ladies, just like his dad was back in the day.

"I already told you, Nate… there's no need to keep going with this if you don't enjoy it."

"I do." Nathan smirked, washing the thoughts away. "I love the money, and it's so much easier to get girls this way."

"I knew you'd say something like that…" Lucas laughed and shook his head.

"By the way, what about you? Seeing someone?"

"Not right now." Lucas shrugged. He was a little busy with work, and he didn't have the time to deal with girls. At least not for now.

"Right." Nathan chuckled. "You are always the lazy one when it comes to girls."

"It's not like that. But anyway, I'm not like you, who screw everything that walks."

"You're offending me, Luke."

Nathan laughed. He just wanted to have fun. He was twenty five, he was rich, charming, handsome and very intelligent. He _deserved _to have some fun… and girls and parties were his way to do it.

"You didn't come to the party last night." Nathan pointed at him.

"Sorry, bro, I had to wake early today… I bet you had lots of people to keep you busy."

"You can count on that." Nathan smiled. "Look, man, I gotta go. I'll call you later this week, let's see if we can watch the game together on Saturday at my apartment. I'll invite Clay and Jake too."

"Sounds great to me. I'll be there." Lucas smiled at him. His younger brother was always struggling with Dan and these same issues since he was a kid. It hurt him to see Nathan this way, always trying to keep up with Dan's hopes. "And Nate… don't let him get to you, ok? But please, try to be reasonable when taking decisions inside and outside the office. You know, you're a public person now, and you're the image of the company. It's not good to them, and to you, if you're acting so reckless everyday. Keep that in mind."

"I will, Luke. Really."

"And if you ever need any kind of help, you know you can count on me, okay?" Lucas assured him, his blue eyes gazing at his brother's, to make sure that he got the message. He would never let anyone mess with his little brother. "You know I'm your brother, and _also_, a great lawyer."

"Thanks, man. It means a lot. But that's enough of chick flick. I'll get going. See you Saturday."

Nathan pumped fists with his brother and got up, making sure to hand him enough money to pay for his part. Then, it was time for him to hit the gym, and try to forget about everything else.

**XxX**

Nathan sighed. He was tired after the day, and for the first time in a long time he decided not to take the girl to his apartment. His head was full, and even though most of the time he tried to block Dan of his mind, his dad always managed to get to him. It was hard to just let it go. He knew that he was thinking about doing something, and even as Nathan tried to act like it was nothing, it bugged him.

He turned around on the bed, now facing the ceiling. It was three o'clock in the morning and he was sure that he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. It was like that most times. Some nights were harder, and the only way to get some rest was to get wasted first. He sighed and got up, walking slowly to the large living room, grabbing a bottle of whisky in the process. Nathan turned the TV on right away and yawned, taking a large sip of the whisky after that.

On the table in front of him, a magazine was laying open since last Friday. Dan stopped by and threw that thing on him after storming off. Nathan took the magazine on his hands and then sighed, seeing his name all over the middle pages. Pictures of him half naked in a club, pictures of him in bar fights, and so on. Things were slowly getting out of hand, and he knew his dad. He _would_ do something. Soon.

Slowly, Nathan drifted to sleep. The bottle stayed in his hands, and the TV continued showing the rerun of some game. His eyes were closed, and he was finally sleeping, but his mind was surely not resting.

**XxX**

"Did you hear about this?"

Clay threw an envelope on Nathan's desk and sat down in front of him. His friend opened it, and he saw when a smile emerged on his lips.

"A charity ball… These shits are always a little on the boring side... But we're going anyway. I always get lucky on these things..." Nathan declared with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah, but you do know that it's not your usual type of party… lot's of important people and a bunch of journalists and paparazzi… you know they're dying to make your life miserable."

"Still, it's going to be fun."

"Nate, really… go easy on this one, ok? You know how the press loves this fuss about you. It's only going to make things harder for you."

"I'm not going to do anything stupid, Clay." Nathan rolled his eyes. "Are you coming or not?"

"Of course I am. Besides, I have to take care of you."

Nathan rolled his eyes, suddenly aware of the fact that everybody thought he was always careless and immature. Of course he knew he was no saint, but still, sometimes he just wanted people to give him more credit

"You're teaming up with Lucas now?" He turned to Clay again, frowning.

"I should. By the way, is he coming?"

"I really don't know, man. Don't even know if he heard about this shit. Lucas is trying to get away from Dan for a while, but I'll make sure that he'll go. That is going to make my dad go crazy."

"Are they still not talking?" Clay asked, resting his legs on Nathan's large desk.

"No. They were never in good terms, you know… dad always wanted us to be like him and be in charge of the company, but you know how Lucas is. He never really wanted it. And dad never accepted it."

"Yeah." Clay nodded. "But I think Lucas does a great job as a lawyer."

"He does." Nathan sighed. "And I think it's great for me that my brother is such a good lawyer."

"Let's pray you don't need to play this card."

Nathan nodded, and started working again. Clay was right, and he needed to get some work done before it started to bring him more problems. He gazed at the invitation a little later and smiled for a second. He could use some fun, and this would be great. He couldn't wait for it.

Suddenly the telephone started ringing and he picked up fast.

"Mr. Scott, I'm sorry to interrupt you." His secretary started.

"It's ok, Lindsay, I was not busy. What is it?"

"Mr. Goodman asked me to inform you that Chevrolet Motors accepted the new contract, and they want you to contact them as soon as possible."

A bright smile crossed his lips, and Nathan was suddenly happy.

"Thanks, Lindsay. I'll do it right away."

He hung up and looked at his friend with a huge smile.

"Seems that I really am always right, Clay…"

**XxX**

Lucas grabbed another beer without taking his eyes off the game. He and Nathan were playing NBA Live on Nathan's apartment, and he was probably going to crash there. It was Saturday the next day, and it would be more fun than being home alone.

"You suck." Nathan declared, as soon as he beat Lucas up another time.

"Whatever." Lucas rolled his eyes and took a large sip of his beer. "You can be better than me in this stupid video game thing, but you know who is really good in _real_ basketball."

"Yeah, it's me." Nathan chuckled.

"In your dreams."

"Look, what about the girl you invited to come?"

"She must be here any time now." Lucas answered with a mischievous smile.

"Great. Is she hot?" Nathan asked, getting up from the couch and grabbing a can of beer that was on the small table near the TV.

"You have to wait and see, bro." Lucas chuckled. "She moved here some weeks ago, and since I'm pretty much the only person she knows around for now, I thought it would be nice to invite her over."

"Yeah, really nice." Nathan smirked. "Why didn't she come with you?"

"She had some extra work to do or something." Lucas shrugged.

"So, are you into her or anything?" Nathan looked interested. Lucas made a strange face and shook his head.

"No, we're just friends."

"Great, so I'm free to make a move on her if she's hot?" Nathan asked, just to be sure.

"You can do whatever you want." His brother smiled at him and Nathan nodded happily.

"Sweet."

It didn't take long for her to arrive, and Lucas told Nathan that he should totally go and open the door for her.

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked. "Dude, I'm not going to back off now, you said you were not interested."

"And I'm not." Lucas rolled his eyes. "Go get the door already."

Nathan smirked and made his way to the door, opening it a second later. When his eyes finally landed on hers, he was taken aback, and so was she. The girl in front of him was hot, he could see it now, but in a totally different way from the girls he usually hooked up with.

His blue eyes softened a little bit as soon as her brown ones gazed back at him, and he almost smiled down at her.

Almost.

"Haley?"

She broke the eye contact and looked inside the apartment, glancing at Lucas, who was now smiling brightly at her.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" She asked seconds later, her eyes now darker. Nathan felt his body become tense. "Lucas!" She looked at the other Scott, who was currently grinning like crazy, still sitting at the couch. She could not believe he did something like that to her.

"Probably it is." Nathan answered her instead, still taken aback by her sudden appearance.

Lucas was so going to pay for that…

_**To be Continued…**_

_Please, review! _


	2. Present and Past

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**XxX**

**2. Present and past**

"Lucas, I swear to god that I'll forget you're my best friend and I'll kick your ass for doing what you did!"

He chuckled and then rolled his eyes at her, clearly amused at her reaction. Sure, he knew Haley and Nathan never really were friends… but he never thought they would be so mad about his little joke.

"Chill out, will ya?" He looked at her, trying to hide his smile. She rolled her eyes and kept driving. There was no way in hell she was hanging out with that idiot, and Lucas was out of his mind if he really thought she might do that. "It was no big deal. I just thought it would be fun, hang out with old college friends…"

"Me and Nathan were _never _friends. And you know it." She hissed. Lucas chuckled again, and quickly straightened his face as soon as she sent him a death glare.

"Anyway, it would be good if you guys tried to be. He's not that bad, Hales, I always told you that. Besides, you moved here just now and it's good that you know someone already."

"I already know Nathan really well, and I don't need his company."

"Being friends with Nathan is not that bad." Lucas tried to point out, and went on as she scowled at him. "Besides, like I told you, he's not a bad guy. Maybe he's a little odd sometimes, but definitely a good person."

Haley rolled her eyes, and then kept her attention on the road. Right. Nathan Scott was not a bad person. He was just a major jackass, plain and simple. They met in freshman year in college, and she instantly hit it off with Lucas. On the other hand, things with Nathan were not that easy. Never were.

He was cocky, full of himself and a man whore. He was always bragging about how wealthy he was, about his dad's company, about his cars, basketball skills and everything else. Most of the time he made sure to turn her life in a living hell by practically living in her and Lucas's dorm. He would arrive when he was not invited, he would crash there a lot of nights and, some times, he even brought his hos with him.

Nathan pretty much was the college king or something like that back then, since he was the basketball team's captain and probably their best player, but Haley seemed like the only one who would never put up with his shit. It only fueled him to try and piss her off everyday, and their lives back in college were pretty much like that. Lucas was always trying to get them to actually be nice to each other, and the two of them just more interested in _killing _each other.

Some people never get along, that was true, and both Haley and Nathan were always aware of this. He never tried to be nice to her, and she responded to that by never softening up to him.

"Luke, get over it. Me and your so beloved little brother hate each other. It's just like that. Sometimes people don't really get along, that's all."

"He's different now." Lucas tried to convince her, but even he knew it was not the truth. Nathan was not okay, he and Dan were always fighting now – possibly more than ever - and he was always a nervous wreck. He was partying and drinking like crazy, and obviously screwing every girl that looked interested. He wished Nathan would just stop acting like that and get a hold of his life, before their father actually wanted to do something about it. But Nathan was so stubborn and self centered, and never listened to his brother.

"Lucas, I see his face plastered in almost every weekly gossip magazine." She looked at him briefly and he raised an eyebrow and then nodded, defeated. "He seems worst than ever to me. Anyway, I'm _not _in New York to see or talk about Nathan _Jackass _Scott."

"Do you read gossip magazines?" Lucas shot her a puzzled look, a small smirk plastered in his face.

"That is _not _the point, Lucas." Haley said through gritted teeth and Lucas laughed.

"Yeah, yeah… sorry. Just checking."

She rolled her eyes at him, and then decided to change the subject for good.

"I wanted, first of all, to thank you for helping me to get this job." She now smiled sweetly at him and Lucas smiled back.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Hales. And besides, the fact that you're living here now just made me glad. It's cool to be near you again, you know…"

"Yeah…" She smiled again, sighing happily. "It's actually good to be here. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Hales."

They looked briefly at each other and then she glued her eyes on the road once more before saying:

"So, tell me what is it like to be this posh lawyer you are now. You know I always told you that you would be good at it."

"My dad hates my guts for turning into a lawyer." He laughed. "I thought he would let it go when Nathan decided he wanted to run the company, but I guess I was wrong. Dan never lets anything go."

"I really don't get it. You are a young, successful lawyer, and he's not proud of you. I mean, what kind of father is not proud of his son's success?"

"You know Dan…" Lucas shook his head. "He wants everything to be they way he wants it to be."

Haley nodded her head. Yeah, she met Dan back in college days, and not even once he was nice to her.

"I bet he is worshiping Nathan now…" She wondered, and Lucas chuckled a bit.

"Not at all. They are really having big problems, you know… things haven't exactly changed between them, Haley. Sometimes I just wished Nathan would find his own way… It's time for Dan to let him go."

She nodded quietly. Yes, Haley James could remember Dan Scott really well, and she surely had in mind all the fights he and Nathan had through the years they shared in college. She even saw some of the fights, and it was strange that Nathan was always the one Dan chose to pick a fight with. When Dan was around, Nathan would change his behavior drastically, and those were the worst days ever. He would drink a lot, pick up fights with random people at parties, and most of the time, he was extremely rude to her. Sure, she and Nathan didn't get along, and they were always arguing, but when Dan was visiting or when he showed up, Nathan turned into a different person. Their usually small banter would turn into real and heated arguments, and she decided later it was better to stay away from Lucas' brother when their dad was around.

Even though she despised Nathan, she actually felt bad for him. But that was not really her problem…

**XXX**

"_Nathan, just get lost!" She yelled frustrated at him, without really looking at his face. He was knocking on her dorm's door quietly and when she opened it, turned out it was him. Not quite a good surprise. "Lucas is not here, so…" She motioned for him to take a clue and leave already. _

"_He told me he would be here now…" His voice was somewhat different. "Whatever. Sorry."_

_Haley finally took her time to look at him and his face was with a strange expression. He looked tired. Maybe not tired… he looked worried. Besides, Nathan never told he was sorry about anything, even if it was something really bad. Never in these almost two years of knowing him, he said was he sorry about something. The fact that he just said it to her now, just made her a little worried about him. _

"_What's wrong?" She asked carefully, knowing he would just probably tell her to fuck off and mind her own business. He was always like that with her, but she didn't really care about it. They were not friends, and never would be. She just wanted Nathan to act a little better around her, wanted at least that they would be clear of each other. However, he was always coming back to her, to piss her off a little more, like it was his hobby or something._

_This time, though, Nathan frowned. His hands traveled to his pockets and he opened his mouth, like he was ready to say something, and the he closed it again. Then he sighed. There was something clearly wrong with him, and Haley felt instantly curious about his strange behavior._

"_Nathan?..."_

"_It's nothing, really, Haley." He managed to say. She didn't buy it though. "I just wanted to check on Lucas and-"_

"_I know you, Nathan, and there is something wrong." She pointed, cutting him off, but trying to sound nice at the same time. "You don't need to talk to me, okay… do you want me to call Lucas and ask him to come back? You can wait here, he probably won't be long, I guess."_

_Nathan shifted his weight on his feet, nervous. He was not used to talk to her for so long like this. They should be at each other's throats by now, but he was nervous, and all he could do was stare at his feet like a stupid little boy. _

"_I should probably just-" He started, but suddenly he clenched his jaw at the sound of _his _voice._

"_Nathan!"_

_Haley flinched. The voice was booming behind Nathan and she saw him flinch too, finally entering the room. He was now facing the man standing on the doorstep just like Haley was, and he looked like a little boy, scared and helpless. She was kind of surprised by the way he reacted, but she kept that to herself. _

"_Who do you think you are to let me standing there like an idiot, Nathan?"_

"_Dad, please… just drop it…"_

"_What? Fucking this little slut is more important than having an important talk with your dad?"_

"_Excuse me?" Haley cut him off, taken aback by his nasty words. _

"_Dad!… please." Nathan scowled, tried to make him stop, but he knew he wouldn't. _

"_This has nothing to do with you sweetie, so back the hell off." Dan looked at her for the first time since he arrived, and then started to enter her dorm like he owned the place. _

"_You back off!" She snapped out of her shock and put her hands on her hips, finally moving and placing herself between Nathan and the nasty man in front of them. "You can't come here and call me things! I don't even know you!"_

"_Nathan, come on." Dan ignored him, demanding his son to come with him. "I'm not finished with you, and I still want to-"_

"_Dad, please just go. I promise I'll call you later." Nathan said, nervous. _

"_Nathan, you decide: come with me now or I'll have to-"_

"_He already said he's not going." Haley narrowed her eyes at him. She felt somewhat stupid for defending Nathan Scott this way, but she could see Lucas was right the whole time: Dan was an ass, and he badmouthed her. She heard stories about him since she met Lucas, but she never thought he was that rude. Nathan was surely feeling uncomfortable and even it being him, she would not let the man arrive there and act like he was king. _

"_Oh, someone's feisty." Dan smirked. "I bet the sex is great, isn't it, Nathan?"_

_Haley was, again, taken aback by his words._

"_Dad, leave her alone-"_

"_I will, as soon as you get your ass downstairs and get in the fucking car." Dan ordered straight away and Nathan flinched again. He surely didn't enjoy the fact that Haley was seeing him so vulnerable. "I don't have the fucking entire day, Nathan, this is an order! Do you want me to help you downstairs or will you get there by yourself?" that surely was not a friendly invitation, and Nathan knew it._

_Nathan glanced at Haley for a brief moment and then his eyes fell. _

"_Okay, dad." He nodded in response, and Dan smiled. _

"_C'mon, son." Dan hushed him and then turned to Haley. "See you around, sweetie. It was nice meeting you. By the way, tell Lucas I'm taking Nathan to spend the weekend with me."_

"_Bastard." She muttered under her breath, while watching him practically drag Nathan out of her dorm. He sent her a quick glance, and then mouthed her 'sorry'. _

**XXX**

"I don't know why he lets Dan boss him around so much." Lucas concluded, finally taking Haley off of her thoughts. "I mean, he really likes his job, he wanted to do it since the beginning… but dad makes sure that Nathan is always under his control. I think Nathan is losing his temper with him already, and he's pulling all these shits a lot."

"He probably wants Dan to be pissed at him." Haley told her friend and he nodded.

"Yeah, he probably does."

"I'm sure he'll come around." Haley gave Lucas an assuring smile. "Nathan is smart and strong… sooner or later things are going to be okay."

"I just hope you're right, Hales."

**XxX**

"So, what's the deal with this Nathan Scott guy? He looks hot!"

Haley rolled her eyes at her friend Brooke, and then climbed on her bed, thinking about last night. Brooke was flipping through a magazine, reading something about Nathan's latest public appearance. Haley didn't bother to keep up with it, though. In fact, she never thought about the fact that moving in New York would imply that Nathan and her would eventually run into each other. He lived there, he worked there, and of course, he was Lucas' brother, and they were really close. Since she was Lucas' best friend, it was a matter of time for them to meet again. She just didn't think it would be so fast.

"He is trouble." Haley told her, sighing. She was not in the mood for it.

"You never really mentioned him before…" Brooke closed the magazine and then looked at her friend, eager to know more about the Scott brothers. "You mentioned Lucas a lot of times, but Nathan… not even once. I never knew this Lucas guy had a brother!"

"Well, it was a piece of information that you could go without." Haley told her friend. "He's an ass."

"He seems cute." Brooke decided, a grin on her face. "So you met him again last night… how was it?"

"Awful. I didn't even talk to him, I just turned to leave and then Lucas decided to come with me. In fact, I didn't even remember Nathan existence, but Lucas made sure to remind me last night… I so want to kill him when I think about it…"

"What, is Nathan like you ex boyfriend? That's why you hate him so much? He screwed up?"

Haley's face fell, totally shocked with Brooke's thoughts about her and Nathan.

"What? No- ! Oh God, no!" Haley was shaking her head frantically, trying to make a point. "I would _never _date him. Besides, he didn't date at all. Nathan was never the commitment kind of guy. He still isn't, by the looks of it." She pointed at the magazine.

"Okay…" Brooke said slowly, a small smile playing on her lips. "Sex buddy, maybe?"

Haley suddenly felt nauseous about the thought.

"It is right, isn't it?" Brooke said excitedly, jumping slightly on the bed. "You guys hooked up! Tell me about it! I want details!"

"EW!" Haley managed to yell, visibly still shocked. How could Brooke think something like that? "He is just a big jackass, that's all. I would never do something like that with him."

"Ok, no need to be so worked up about it, I just wanted to know…"

"I'm _not _worked up. I was friends with Lucas back in college, and Nathan is his brother. That's pretty much everything."

"Yeah, I bet."

Haley loved her friend. Really. But sometimes, she could be really frustrating to put up with, especially if they were talking about guys.

She met Brooke two years ago, as soon as she was out of college, and they hit it off instantly. The two of them shared an apartment for some time, and when Haley got this amazing job opportunity in a good school in New York – thanks to Lucas, by the way – Brooke decided it was a great idea, and tagged along. She was still doing some job hunting, since they were not there for a long time, but things were great so far.

"Right. So when I'm going to meet them?" Brooke spoke up, making Haley turn her attention back to her.

"Okay, I really needed to talk to you about it anyway." Haley calmed down a bit and sat straight. "Lucas invited me to this charity ball and I want you to come with us."

Brooke clapped her hands excitedly and nodded right away.

"Oh, that's great! We could use some fun!"

"He also told me it's a formal party and all those boring business man will be around. Even his jackass of a dad will be there for sure. You know, making appearances on these things is good for them. Are you still in? Lucas practically begged me to come with him, and I told him I had a roommate that happens to love parties…" Haley smiled at her. "And he said that you were welcome to tag along if you wanted to."

"Of course I'm in! Oh, we need to go shopping!" Brooke shrieked. "And since Nathan is already taken, maybe I'll try my luck with Lucas. I've seen the pictures and he is totally hot."

"Lucas is a great guy…" Haley smiled and then frowned, when she noticed what her friend said about the other Scott. "But Nathan is not taken."

"He obviously is, since you guys have this history and you-"

"We do not have any history, Brooke! Nathan and I aren't even friends! I hate him, he hates me, that's pretty much everything!"

Haley huffed, her face now red like a tomato. She was angry and frustrated, trying to make Brooke understand that they didn't even like each other. Brooke, on the other hand, was finding all that fuss about the brunette Scott really intriguing. She made a mental note to keep bugging Haley about him later.

"Gee, chill!" Brooke laughed slightly amused by Haley's behavior. "I'm just kidding. C'mon, let's get ready and go shopping already! This is going to be so exciting, the four of us…"

"Brooke." Haley warned. Her friend just sent her a quick playful smile.

**XxX**

"You did what?" Nathan asked again, shocked and angry at his brother. They were at Nathan's apartment later that day. Since Nathan skipped work again and Lucas was free for the day, they decided to meet and hang out a bit, just pizza, some beers and video games. Just the two of them. Everything was okay, until Lucas told him he invited Haley to come to the charity ball.

"Man, she's my friend, she's recently arrived New York and she could use some fun. No big deal. Just make sure you stay away from her and you're set." Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother, starting to get annoyed at his behavior. They were not in college anymore. He wished these stupid and unnecessary fights between them would stop for good. Haley was a great girl, and Nathan – even though he really was somewhat a first class asshole sometimes – was an okay guy too.

"Well, I don't want her to go." Nathan crossed his arms on his chest, and Lucas thought for a second his brother was looking like a five years old.

"Too bad, little brother, she _is_ going. I invited her, and also that roommate… I think her name is Brooke."

"Roommate?" Nathan frowned.

"Yeah, she shares an apartment with this girl and she asked me if it was okay to bring her too." Lucas shrugged. "I told her it was ok. What about you? Do you have a date so far?"

Nathan shook his head and took a sip of his beer. He always preferred to go alone, and find a nice girl there. It was easier that way, he thought.

"I'm going alone. I mean, Clay is coming too, and probably Jake, but I'll take my time chasing some girls…" He smirked.

"Man, just try to behave, ok? Dad will be there. The directors will be there. Don't mess up, this can turn out bad for you."

"Luke, I'll just have some fun."

"I know how you have fun, Nathan. Everybody knows that, by the way. Don't drink too much and stay out of trouble. I'll keep an eye on you."

"Seems like everybody wants to boss me around these days…" Nathan muttered under his breath, getting up from the couch and running a hand trough his hair. Lucas sighed, shaking his head a bit.

"It's not like that, Nate." Lucas got up too, really worried about his brother. "I just want to make sure you won't get in trouble… that's it. I don't want to boss you…"

Nathan sighed.

"I know. It's just that…" He shook his head, slightly confused.

"It's okay, Nate. I already told you, you can count on me."

Nathan was about to say something when his phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and sighed heavily when his dad's name flashed on the screen.

By the look on his brother's face, Lucas could already tell who it was.

"Hey, dad." Nathan said in a bored voice.

"We need to talk. I'll be getting there in ten minutes."

"What?" Nathan's eyes snapped open, Lucas facing him with a puzzled expression on his face. "You are coming here now?"

"Yes." Dan answered him straight away. "It's work, Nathan."

"It's fucking eleven pm, dad, I'm not really in the mood for it-"

"Sorry to hear it, son, I'm already on my way. I really hope you're not throwing some stupid party or whatever."

"I'm not." Nathan clenched his jaw.

"Good."

Dan hung up straight away and Nathan closed his eyes a little bit, putting his phone back on his pants' pocket. Lucas was looking at him with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"So, dad's coming." Lucas tried. Nathan opened his eyes again and nodded, a visible frown on his face.

"He could just leave me alone…" He muttered. Lucas sighed and sat back on the couch. He was also trapped there, 'cause there was no way he was going to chicken out and let Nathan deal with their father alone.

"C'mon, don't let him get to you, ok?" Lucas patted his back.

"Are you going now?" Nathan turned to face his brother, the expression on his face showing he was worried.

"No, I'm staying. It's not like I'm avoiding him or anything." Lucas shrugged. He surely was avoiding Dan, but he wanted to stay and make sure things were civil between the two of them.

"All right…" Nathan breathed out.

Dan would always back off a little bit when the older boy was around, and it was always like that.

Lucas was just one year and a half older than Nathan, and he was pretty sure Dan was never afraid of him by any means. But for some strange reason, their dad always managed to stop bugging Nathan when Lucas appeared in a room, or showed up in the house. Nathan was an easy target to Dan since the beginning, and Lucas never liked it. His brother was tough, he surely was… but when their dad was involved, he turned out to be weak.

"What does he want now?" Nathan asked more to himself than Lucas, but his brother decided to answer it anyway.

"Probably just discuss something about a new contract or something. Maybe it's something big, he just decided to let you know right away."

"Couldn't it wait 'till tomorrow?"

"Well, you're always skipping work, Nathan. It's not like he can see you at the office everyday." Lucas stated, knowing it was the truth.

"Whatever. I'll make sure he leaves soon."

Lucas nodded. Nathan grabbed another beer, and slowly some memories started surfacing in his mind…

**XXX**

_Nathan was feeling slightly good that day. The weather was nice, it was a Sunday, and he could play the entire day without worrying about homework and classes. Besides that, he was happy because his father was in Charlotte for the weekend, and would probably be back only on Tuesday. _

_It meant he could be free for the whole weekend. _

_Staying with only Lucas and their uncle Keith was nice, and Nathan always thought those were the happiest days ever. Keith Scott was nice, a real great and noble man. Nathan secretly wished he was his dad instead of Dan, but he never really let anyone know about this. His uncle didn't even look like he was related to Dan Scott. _

"_How's your game?" Keith approached the ten year old boy and smiled down at him, as soon as he stopped dribbling the basketball. He was playing alone on the driveway of his uncle's house, where a basketball hoop was standing. _

"_Don't know." Nathan shrugged, now holding the ball between his small hands and distractedly rolling it back and forth. _

_Keith knew better than that. Nathan was truly talented when it came to basketball, and he noticed it since he was seven or eight. Lucas was good too, but Nathan had it in himself. He was a natural. _

"_I was watching you, and you sure are improving fast." Keith ruffled the boy's hair and Nathan's head shot up, his eyes showing a glint of curiosity and maybe happiness. _

"_Really?"_

_Nathan was looking expectantly at his uncle, curious and amused by his comment. He loved the game, and he wanted so badly to become a great player someday… it would be the best thing ever. _

"_Yep. You're good, you know? Your coach must be proud to have you on his team."_

_The boy nodded, but he still didn't look convinced by the man's words. His dad was not against him playing basketball, but he didn't make an effort to encourage Nathan by any means. In fact, he always told both of his sons that it was a waste of time. It was just a game… fun, good to watch and play, but still, it was just a stupid game._

"_Yeah, he must be. He told me I'm good." Nathan finally spoke, a small smile on his lips. "I never thought dad would let me play."_

"_I bet your dad is proud of you too, Nathan, even if he doesn't say it." Keith smiled and patted his back. "You'll be a great player someday real soon, you'll see… keep it up."_

_The boy sighed. There was surely something bothering him and he was clearly struggling with it at the moment. His uncle's words kept ringing in his head, conflicting with everything his dad had always told him about basketball. _

"_At first, dad didn't want me to play…" Nathan started, his blue eyes dancing around the place, looking anywhere but at his uncle. "But I insisted and then he gave in."_

"_I'm glad he did it."_

"_Yeah. Me too." Nathan nodded his head, still sounding really serious. "He told me it was a good idea after all, 'cause this is like dumb boys like me can get a real chance to be accepted in a good college."_

_Keith's face fell for a second, his mind trying to process what the young boy just told hm. Nathan said it in such a natural way, probably believing what his dad told him. Dan was always like that, hurting people and bringing the worst in them. Keith hated the fact that his brother was an ass to everybody, especially to Nathan. Lucas was an okay boy, always with a smile on his face and a book in his hands. The older boy was bright, clever, open minded, and most of all, he never put up with Dan's crap. He just ignored it, and his dad never got to him. Even Dan seemed to know that Lucas was immune to his asshole behavior, and most of the time he didn't bother to push him on anything. Lucas was the stronger one. Nathan, on the other hand, wasn't. _

_The younger boy was sweet, caring and loving. Keith never met such a good boy like Nathan before, and he was proud of his nephew. But for some reason, Nathan was slowly changing into someone different: some days he would be quiet and cheerful, other days he just acted grumpy and impolite. It looked like Dan was actually messing up his youngest son's personality. Keith didn't like it a bit. _

"_I'm dumb." Nathan said, frowning. He dropped his basketball, suddenly feeling the urge to get away from everything and everyone. His happiness disappeared and he was now feeling bad. Nathan was keeping that to himself for some months, and now, actually saying his dad's words out loud for someone else to hear, it made Nathan grow worried about it. Maybe he was really dumb like his dad said he was, and Keith would just agree right away. He would be so hurt if Keith agreed with Dan on this one… _

"_Hey, what is it?" Keith touched his nephew's chin and made him look up, their eyes finally meeting. "You are not dumb, Nathan. You are like… one of the most intelligent kids I know. Really, I would never lie to you… I think you should keep the basketball up 'cause you love it, and you're good, but I also know that you are a smart boy."_

"_Lucas is smart…" Nathan started moving his eyes to the ground, but Keith didn't let him. _

"_Lucas is, and so are you. Never let anyone say otherwise."_

"_But dad said I-"_

"_Nathan, listen to me." Keith interrupted, feeling instantly angry at his brother for saying such a nasty thing to his own son. "Your dad sometimes says things that he doesn't really mean, ok? I'm sure he didn't mean it. You are not dumb. Believe me when I say that, you are not."_

"_I suck at Math." Nathan stated in a weak voice, trying to make a point. "I- I suck at English too. The other day I just-"_

"_You just need to work harder, that's all. It doesn't mean you are not capable." His uncle interrupted him. "Please, Nathan… don't believe any of this crap. You're a great little guy, I'm really proud of you."_

"_Okay…" The boy breathed out, still feeling nervous. He could trust Keith though. _

"_Come here…"_

_The older Scott embraced the younger one, enveloping him in a comforting and nice hug. Nathan wrapped his arms around his uncle, feeling safe and loved at least for once. It felt good to be hugged like that, it was like no one could ever get to him. He felt safe. His dad never had time to hug him though – or maybe he never really wanted to. _

"_Your mom would be proud of you, you know?" Keith told him a while ago, stepping back a little. Nathan smiled. He missed his mom so much!..._

"_I miss her… I wish she was here…"_

"_Yeah…"_

_Nathan felt like crying, but he just decided he was not letting it happen. Not in front of his uncle or anyone for that matter. Sometimes, alone in his bedroom, he would cry for her. He really missed his mom like crazy, and he knew things would be better if she was still around. But she was gone and there was nothing he could do to change it._

"_Hey, Nate, wanna play with me?" _

_Nathan and Keith turned back to see Lucas running up to meet them at the front of the house. Lucas was slightly taller than his little brother, and always looked happier than him. Mostly because Dan choose Nathan to pressure, not him. _

"_Sure!" Nathan instantly snapped out of his thoughts, seeming to forget about everything else. He grabbed the basketball and passed it to Lucas, finally letting go of his emotions and getting lost in the game. _

_Keith smiled at them, seeing how Lucas was nice to him all the time. When Nathan scored, the older boy ruffled his hair and patted his back quickly, before saying:_

"_Good job, Nate. You're better than me already!"_

_**XXX**_

Lucas was flipping through the channels and looking to them from time to time. Things were okay though, and he partially knew it was because he was in the room. Dan was playing nice with Nathan. And he'd better keep it up, 'cause Lucas was not going to put up with anything his dad might do.

"Nathan, I already warned you." Dan started saying, as soon as they finished whatever they were going through before. "Stop acting like that and get to work. I'm getting tired of these shit."

"I'm doing my work, dad, chill out. I actually got the deal with Chevrolet, didn't I?" Nathan smirked at him, leading him to the door.

"Yeah, and almost made us lose it. You're not being professional, Nathan, and I don't like it."

"You let me take charge of the company." Nathan shoved his hands on his pockets. "When you were making the decisions you did it the way you wanted. Now I'm the one making the choices here, dad, and things will be my way. As soon as you get it, we'll start to get along."

"We'll see about that, Nathan. We'll see." Dan sent him a glare and then turned to Lucas.

"How are things at work?" He asked, but his eyes told Lucas that he was not really interested.

Lucas looked at him for an instant before answering.

"Just great. It couldn't be better."

"I always knew you would be a better choice to run the company… if only you forgot about this crap about becoming a lawyer…" Dan told him.

"I never wanted to work with you, dad, just get over it already." Lucas rolled his eyes at him, and got up, approaching them. "Nathan was the one who always wanted to work with you, and now you just keep bugging him about it."

"Probably because he's trying to ruin my hard work." Dan sent Nathan a small sarcastic smile, and patted his shoulder. "It's nothing new to me that you would start to mess up, son. It's the only thing you're good at."

Lucas was about to say something, but Dan just turned out and left, without saying another word or waiting for an answer. Nathan relaxed right after that and then sent his brother a wide smile. He grabbed another beer from the fridge nearby and motioned for the TV.

"Let's play another round of NBA Live."

"Okay."

Without another word, Nathan started the game and Lucas decided not to comment about anything. He knew Nathan was better than that, better than the man he became. He wished his brother would start seeing that sometime soon, before things would get out of hand.

**To be continued**

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter, I really appreciate receiving them! Thanks also to the ones who added this story to favorites and/or added it to alert list. There's much more to come, and next chapter should be up real soon! Keep reading, and please, review!


	3. Still The Same

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**XxX**

**3. Still The Same**

_**You and I, we've been at it so long  
I still got the strongest fire  
You and I, we still know how to talk  
Know how to walk that wire**_

_Haley was having fun that night, and she could relate it to the company. She met this guy, Chad, and he surely knew how to be a gentleman, and really funny and smart all along. They were talking for some time now. _

_He had English with her, but they never really had a chance to talk. When Lucas decided to drag her to that party and she saw him there, turned out that she was suddenly interested in being there. She wanted to actually talk to him for some time now. _

_Besides, she almost forgot the fact that Nathan was in the same room as her. As soon as he spotted her with Chad he disappeared instantly, claiming to be thirsty and Haley thought it was great. Most of the time she refused going to these parties, because all Nathan would do was piss her off constantly and make her night a living hell. This night, however, things were different. _

"_Your dad seems like an awesome guy." She smiled at Chad, after he told her about her family. He smiled back, and she was amazed at how cute and charming he was. _

"_He is. Actually, my whole family is great. My mom tends to be a little overprotective, but you know, it's normal." He paused for a second and then went on. "So tell me, are you enjoying college so far?"_

_Haley smiled. She surely was. Besides Nathan, of course. _

"_I sure am. I mean, it's great… I did some great friends."_

"_Yeah. Lucas is a great guy." Chad nodded at her, his green eyes wondered to the room for a second, and them went back to her. "I have some classes with him, he's really nice."_

"_He is." Haley nodded. _

"_Are you friends with Nathan too?" _

_She laughed lightly at the question._

"_Oh, no… don't think so. We do know each other, but, I wouldn't say we're friends."_

"_I noticed he's pretty popular."_

_She knew that. Nathan was popular, he was a great basketball player, he attended to all parties and of course, he was hot as hell. But before that, he was an ass. Unfortunately, the girls were just interested in let him get in their pants, and they never noticed how unpleasant he truly was. He was cocky, full of himself, totally arrogant… she could make a list of synonymous to add to that and it would still be incomplete. _

"_He is." She answered after a bit. _

_She caught a glimpse of him just after that, and noticed he was walking out of one of the bedrooms, his hair all messed up, with a girl following him closely. He was walking slowly, and by the way he was looking she knew he was drunk. He always was. Her heart raced a bit when he caught her looking, and a smirk appeared on his face. Then, he started to make his way towards her and Chad. _

"_I'm thirsty." She said out of the blue, looking at Chad. She surely didn't want Nathan doing something stupid in front of the guy. "Could you get me a beer or something?"_

"_Sure. I'll be right back."_

_Almost as soon as he walked away, Nathan approached her, his infamous smirk flashing at her. He was holding a beer on his right hand, and she noticed that his black shirt was half unbuttoned. She also noticed the bruise on the left side of his face. Haley silently wondered where did he got that. _

"_Where is he? Tired of you already?" He asked her, pretending to look for the guy who was there instants ago. A drunken smile was playing on his lips when he asked her about him. _

"_Nathan, please… leave me alone." She pled him, trying not to sound annoyed. She knew it would only make it worse. _

"_Why? It's so fun to piss you off."_

"_This is ridiculous." She huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. He smiled. "Why don't you just leave me alone at least for once?"_

"_I will, as soon as I finish college and go back to New York. That will take a while, though." He smirked and she rolled her eyes at him. "Until then, you're stuck with me, Hales. Besides, I think you'll miss me when we finish college… we'll probably never see each other again, and then you'll see what you lost… yeah, you'll miss me."_

"_You must be out of your freaking mind. I could never miss someone like you!"_

"_You don't know that. Sometimes things change."_

"_Nathan, you're drunk. Please, go away… Chad will soon be back and I don't want you to be here."_

"_Well, I don't give a fuck about what you want or you don't." He spat, making her flinch in the process. He was drunk. Really drunk. She could smell the alcohol on his breath, and still he was now taking a swing of his beer right in front of her. _

"_Nathan, you're drunk." She repeated, slowly this time. He was now looking at her intently, and she looked again at his bruised face. She didn't know exactly why, but she really wanted to ask how he got that. She saw him earlier that day and he was okay, so she presumed he got into a fight after that. Why would he be fighting anyway? _

"_So what? It's a fucking party, Haley, people tend to get drunk." He answered bitterly. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't know what is to have fun." _

_Haley looked around, but Lucas was nowhere to be seen. Chad was coming back with two beers on his hands and she cursed under her breath, trying to think of what to do. Nathan was still drinking his almost finished beer, while taking a sit besides her. He seemed to be having problems standing and that was not a good sign after all. _

"_Nathan, give me the beer. I think you had enough." _

_He shot her a 'fuck off' look and then continued sipping the beverage. He was waiting for Chad to come back. Haley knew him already… he loved to make a scene and then embarrass her in front of people, especially if it was in front of a guy. He was so not doing it this time… _

"_Nathan, stop drinking. You had too much."_

"_Since when do you care about me?" He sent her a death glare, his grip tightening around the beer._

"_I don't." She spat back. "I just don't want you to do something stupid."_

"_Yeah…" Nathan laughed sarcastically. "You don't want me to embarrass you in front of this punk."_

_Chad was already there, and he was clearly stunned about what Nathan said seconds ago. Haley looked at him apologetically and sent him a small smile, while shaking her head._

"_I'm sorry about him… he's just drunk… I need to find Lucas and tell him to get Nathan out of here." She told him a low voice, maybe trying to avoid Nathan from hearing them out. _

"_Oh, I met Lucas near the bar… he seemed pretty busy and he left with a girl…"_

_Haley cursed. Nathan shot her a smug smile. He finished his beer and then placed the empty bottle on the small table near them. _

"_I told you, Hales… you're stuck with me. At least for the next few years or something…"_

_She looked at Chad again, unable to actually say something. She didn't want to leave already, but Nathan always found a way to mess things up for her. Chad smiled briefly at her, nodding his head. Nathan seemed to be almost drifting to sleep now and Haley knew it would be not fair to let him there. He would never do the same for her but she was a good girl after all. Damn it. _

_**XXX**_

"_I didn't want to leave so early." Nathan spoke up again. He was starting to get on her nerves, and she was regretting helping him. What was the point anyway? "Why do you love to spoil my fun?"_

_She rolled her eyes and ignored him again. He was whining about her making him leave the party since they started walking back to his dorm. To say the truth, Haley wanted to left him there and just go away. After all, he deserved it, and if she was in his place, he would never do this for her. She knew that. _

"_At least that guy is not bothering you anymore…" He mumbled, smiling a bit._

"_He was not bothering me." She told him, dragging him down the street, trying to make him walk faster. There was no one on the streets, and it was pretty late. She was pulling him by his hand and Nathan was following her like a little dog. "You were. You always are."_

_Nathan sighed and halted, making her stop too. She looked at him with impatience and, even drunk, he noticed she was tired and angry. For a second she though he would make a smart remark or maybe say something really nasty. To her surprise and annoyance, Nathan freed himself from her and sat down on a bench nearby, the look on his face now unreadable. Haley walked fast towards him, her hands travelling to her hips in response. He could tell she was losing her patience, but he was not caring that much about what she thought._

"_Nathan, c'mon, let's go. I'm freezing here and I want to go to my room."_

"_I'm feeling sick." He looked at her and just a second later she watched him lower his head to the side and empty his stomach's contents in a totally unpleasant way. _

_Haley looked to the other side, avoiding the sight. Even though she was not his biggest fan, she worried a little bit. Haley always saw Nathan drunk, but he never really let her catch at least a glimpse of him when he was sick or sad, or anything. It was a first time for her. He was always so strong, so auto sufficient… so bold. Now he was sick in front of her, and there was that bruise too… that damn purple bruise which was displaying on his face. For some reason, she hated seeing his face that way. It just felt… _wrong.

"_Fuck…" He managed to say after he was finished. Nathan was panting, and his hands were now rubbing his stomach lightly while he was trying to breathe calmly again. He hated feeling sick. _

_Haley's anger was replaced with some kind of strange concern and instants later, she finally walked up to him, her eyes now a little softer. He was pale and sweating a lot, but she believed he would feel at least a bit better after that. _

"_Are you feeling better?" She asked slowly. _

_He shook his head quietly, shivering a little. He tried to button up his shirt again, but his hands were just not responding the way they should. Haley watched him struggle with it for some seconds, and then decided to help: she halted his hands and placed them on his sides, slowly buttoning the black shirt he was wearing. He was watching her intently, without daring to move his eyes away from what she was doing. Whenever her fingers touched his skin – even for short seconds – Nathan felt something warm up inside of him. It was a strange feeling… but right now he was enjoying pretty much._

_As soon as she was finished, she took his right hand in hers and pulled him lightly, making him look in her eyes. She let a small smile appear on her lips and then said in a low voice:_

"_Let's sit over there 'till you feel a little better. C'mon."_

_Nathan nodded his head and followed her to the other bench across the street. Her voice was no longer annoyed, and he could say she was trying to be sweet. Haley James softening up to him was something that didn't happen every day. He would make some smart comment about that if he wasn't feeling so bad. Nathan decided to let it go, and took some minutes to actually start to feel slightly better. He had to remember not to drink so much the next time. _

_She sat near him this time, crossing her arms across her chest. She always did that whenever she was near him, maybe trying to show him she was not pleased by his company. She was looking everywhere but at him, and he just decided to ignore it and try to recover quickly. Being this near to her was kind of awkward. _

_Haley looked at him briefly and saw the bruise again. It was becoming more and more visible as the time was passing, and again, she kept asking herself what the hell happened to him. All of a sudden, she decided to finally ask him about it, even though she knew he would just tell her to back off. _

"_What happened to your face?"_

_Her voice was almost a whisper, and she saw him become tense as soon as he heard the question. It was none of her business, but for some weird reason, she wanted to know what was up. Sure, sometimes Nathan got into fights – although it was not something usual at all – but he was never the one who got bruised. Seeing him like this impressed her a little, and even though she would never admit to him, it worried her. _

"_No big deal." He answered her, his voice low. He was looking intently at his hands and she followed his gaze. He was nervously playing with his fingers, and then she knew it was a big deal. He just didn't want to tell her. _

"_Okay."_

_**Sometimes I feel like  
The world is against me  
The sound of your voice, baby  
That's what saves me  
When we're together I feel so invincible**_

_**Cause it's us against the world  
You and Me against them all  
If you're listening to these words  
Know that we are standing tall  
I don't ever see the day that  
I won't catch you when you fall  
Cause it's us against the world tonight**__**.**_

"_You know my dad is in town, don't you?" He asked her quite a while later, and Haley nodded silently, waiting for him to continue even though she imagined what he would say. Since she first met Dan Scott, Haley instantly knew he was not a good guy. This had to do with him in some way, and she felt instantly sick at the thought. She knew Nathan and how he could be stubborn and all of that crap… but she could remember really well how he reacted when Dan was around the last time they met. Nathan was pretty much another person near his dad, like he was always afraid of something. Not for a second she believed that Nathan actually did something in order to make his dad punch him in the face. He probably did it because he wanted to. What kind of father treated a son like that? _

"_What happened?" She decided to ask, seeing as he remained quiet after some minutes. _

"_We got into this fight…" Nathan sighed and kept looking at his hands. He didn't want to be having this conversation with Haley, but for some reason, he felt like he should do it. He needed to get that out of his heart somehow, but he hated the fact that he was letting her see through him, he hated to let her in. He never wanted her to see how weak he truly was, and he surely didn't want Haley to pity him. He didn't need that, especially from her. "At first, we were just talking. But then he got pretty mad at me about some issues, and then… well…"_

"_Oh, Nathan… I'm sorry…"_

_She looked tenderly at him and he met her gaze for a brief second. She seemed sincere, and he felt his heart soften a bit. She never looked at him that way before. In fact, they never really talked like this before, they never really talked at all. It was the first time they were having a real conversation, without all the arguments and everything else. It was weird, but in the end it felt good. Nathan was feeling good. Somehow, he was comfortable now._

"_Don't be sorry. It's nothing, really…"_

_Haley sighed and he looked away. He was drinking like crazy earlier, and maybe the reason was this. She wondered what kind of discussion created this situation, but she decided to keep the question to herself. She never really expected Nathan to tell her something so private. He was just drunk. He would never be talking to her now if he wasn't drunk. Would he?_

"_Did you tell Lucas about it?" She asked. _

"_No, and I won't. Lucas and our dad don't really get along, I don't want to cause them anymore trouble. I told Lucas I just got into some fight." Nathan's beautiful blue eyes now were directed at her brown ones as he continued. "It's no big deal, Haley. Please, don't tell Lucas."_

"_I won't say it to him, but…this whole thing…it's not right, Nathan… look, I know this has nothing to do with me… but it's not right. Your dad shouldn't have done it to you."_

"_He just lost it. It happens." He shrugged, trying to make a point. He kept telling himself it was nothing. He needed to believe it was nothing. "It's not like he hits me or something…he's not abusive, if that's what you're thinking. It just got out of hand."_

"_Still, it's wrong. He shouldn't have done it." Haley looked at him and a surprising sweet smile graced her full lips. Nathan felt her right hand touch his face slowly and he felt numb all of a sudden. "Don't let him do this to you again, Nathan. You don't deserve it."_

_He just nodded. Hearing her say those words to him immediately sent him in a train of thought about his relationship with his dad, with Lucas, and of course, with her. Maybe she didn't hate him so much after all, and for some reason, that made him feel safe and at ease. _

_What came after that really snapped him out of it, though. _

_Haley embraced him tightly even though she was nervous, and Nathan enveloped her in his arms, feeling his cheeks flush at the contact. She was hugging him. They never hugged before in this whole time they knew each other, and then she was doing it like they did it every day. She was holding him in her arms as if it was something casual, something they were used to. Well, to say the truth, it felt damn good. Nathan could smell her hair, and the scent invaded him with such power, making him hold her a little tighter than before. Haley smiled, burying her head in the curve of his neck and he felt goosebumps when he felt her hot breathing hit his skin. It was not every day someone hugged him with such affection, especially Haley. He instantly thanked himself for telling her about what happened… he would never be hugging her now if he didn't say it to her. _

_Even though it felt good to be this near to her, Nathan started wondering why she put her guard down and approached him like that. _

_Maybe it was just pity, or maybe she did really care about what happened, but in the end it didn't matter that much to him. All that mattered was that he was holding her in his arms in that very moment. _

_When she finally broke the embrace, she gave him a sympathetic smile and then got up, looking at him for some brief seconds before asking:_

"_Do you think we can keep going?"_

"_Yes…"_

"_Are you sure? You're not felling sick anymore?"_

"_I think I'm good now." He answered in a low voice and she nodded. _

"_Let's go then."_

_He got up, now without her help, and they started walking again. They remained in silence through the rest of the way, and for the first time since they knew each other, it was not an awkward silence: it was comfortable. And Nathan felt safe. _

_**XXX**_

"_So, you're as good as new." Haley joked, smiling down at him. Nathan took a shower, changed his clothes and was now sitting on his bed. He looked a lot better, except for that bruise. She didn't like it. She didn't like the fact he was hurt because of his father. _

"_For now. Tomorrow I'll feel awful."_

"_Probably. But that is your fault." She smiled. _

"_I'm glad that my roommate is not around though. He's so noisy in the mornings. You know I hate you for stealing Lucas from here, don't you?" He added playfully and he was glad when he heard her laugh. _

"_Hey, it was Lucas' idea. He told me you're real messy. Now I can see it's true."_

"_Lucas has a big mouth."_

_Haley laughed lightly and got up from the chair she was sitting on, preparing herself to leave. Her and Lucas' dorm was just upstairs, and she was feeling exhausted. Nathan could use a good night of sleep too, and he was certainly just waiting for her to take a hint and leave already. She was just amazed by the two of them playing nice all this time, and she inwardly hoped it would stay that way longer._

_Nathan smiled back to her, scratching his head. Then he was serious again, thinking about what to say next. Even though he was somewhat comfortable with this situation, it was new and he was constantly feeling lost. _

"_I'm sorry I ruined your night." He finally let out and he saw the surprised look on her face._

"_You didn't." She told him. _

"_Yes, I did. You were having a good time and then…"_

"_It's nothing." Haley approached him slowly and then squeezed his hand lightly. "There'll be other parties, and I'll see the guy again on Monday. It's no big deal, really."_

"_And I'll be there to ruin your fun again. You can count on that." Nathan laughed and she did the same. "Seriously, Haley… thanks. You didn't have to do it."_

"_Well, Lucas would be worried sick if I had just left you there all by yourself-"_

"_No, it's not because of that." He interrupted her and she looked at him curiously. "Thanks for hearing me out. I think I needed it… it was good talking to you."_

_She nodded. Haley knew they were not friends, and probably they would never be. But she felt secretly happy Nathan decided to tell her something like that, something so private, something she never really believed he would share with her. It was their secret. They would probably never talk about it again, but she felt like it was something she would never forget. Haley wouldn't be able to erase that night from her mind, even when they were not in college anymore. Nathan was pretty intense, and that night she just got a glimpse of his real life, his real problems. For the first time, she looked at him like he was more human. _

"_Do you need something else?" She asked politely. _

"_I'm good."_

"_Okay."_

_He noticed she was ready to leave, and he didn't want to make her lose the whole night inside of his dorm. He looked down at his hands again, and then back at her. _

"_Please, Haley, don't tell Lucas." He said again and she nodded her head. She wouldn't do it, even though she thought it would help. "He would be mad at our dad, it wouldn't do him any good."_

"_I won't. I promise. But don't forget what I said… don't let it happen again. There's no need to it." _

"_I won't." He answered._

"_So, I'll see you later." She got up and walked slowly to the door. "Sleep well."_

"_Thanks. See you tomorrow." _

_And then she left, the two of them completely surprised about the night they just shared. Nathan sighed to himself and finally decided it was time to try to get some sleep. Thank god it was a Saturday, and he could sleep until late..._

_But when he turned to his side and closed his eyes, all he could see was her pretty face so close to his. This could not be good. _

**XXX**

_**There'll be days  
We'll be on different sides but  
That doesn't last too long  
We find ways to get it on track  
And know how to turn back on **_

"Looking beautiful, Miss James..."

Haley turned around to see her friend Lucas smiling down at her, all dressed up and looking good himself. She was sipping her drink happily, admiring the surrounds when he approached her. Surely the place was something, and that party was good.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Scott." She laughed lightly at him, while he asked the barman to give him some whisky. "I'm flattered."

"So, where's your friend?"

Haley smiled at him.

"Curious?"

"Just a little." Lucas winked at her and thanked the barman when he gave him the whisky.

"She will be right back." Haley answered and he nodded.

"Have you seen Nathan around?"

"Thank God no." She rolled her eyes. "I hope it stays that way… I mean, this place is pretty big, it's not like we're going to run into each other all night."

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. They were always like that in college, and he was starting to see it was not changing anytime soon. Haley and Nathan were always trying to be as far away as possible to each other, and it was fun sometimes, even though he never got to see why they hated each other so much – besides Nathan being an ass to her almost all the time. Lucas could remember really well their banter through the years. He actually wanted to see how it was like when he left. Nathan and Haley were still juniors when he graduated and came back to New York. Presuming they were still alive it didn't turn out that bad, but it surely was still a mystery to him. Nathan never really was up telling him about his last college year, and Haley wasn't too fond of sharing that piece of information either whenever he called her. It was just a blur to him. He wondered how bad it was, but after some time he just let it go.

"If you guys do run into each other, please, ignore him. Our dad is pissed off already, and I know he's waiting for Nathan to mess up tonight. I don't want him to get in any trouble." Lucas said to her, and Haley just smiled and nodded.

"That's okay… I wasn't planning in ruining anything. As much as I want to punch your asshole of a brother in the face, I'll just ignore him."

"Thanks." Lucas laughed and sipped his whisky.

"But keep in mind that I might actually do it some of these days."

"Yeah, I believe you."

Haley looked around again, noticing how the place was packed with people. Most of them looked like business man and their woman, and she felt a little out of place. She was just a teacher, it was not like she was rich or something, and she didn't wanted to be either. Haley was happy with her job, and was excited about her new life in New York. She was glad Brooke had happily tagged along, though. It would not be the same if she was not there with her.

When she looked at her friend again, he was visibly staring at something else. Following his gaze she discovered he was gazing so intently at her friend Brooke.

"So you like her."

"What?" Lucas looked back at Haley and she was smiling.

"That's my friend Brooke." Haley said in a low voice as Brooke was approaching them now.

"Oh, shit…" Lucas mumbled as soon as the girl reached them.

"Hey!" Brooke exclaimed with a cheerful voice, looking directly at Lucas. She could tell he was feeling somewhat nervous, and she instantly thought it was cute. He was checking her out before, but Brooke could tell he was not expecting her to be Haley's roommate and friend.

"Hey." He greeted back, a small smile playing on his lips. "I'm Lucas Scott."

"I'm Brooke Davis. Haley's friend. So, she told me a lot about you, Lucas."

Lucas briefly gazed at Haley and she just sent him a quick smile, getting her attention back to her drink.

"I hope she told you just nice things…"

"Oh, she did." Brooke said with a grin.

Haley was glad when she noticed their friends hit it off after some minutes. Lucas was a great guy, and she was sure he would be great to Brooke. She was a great girl too, and the two of them deserved the best.

After half an hour, it was like the two of them knew each other for a life time.

"I want to dance!" Brooke declared happily and Lucas smiled. "Are you up to it?"

"Sure." Lucas took her hand in his and then turned to Haley. "We'll be right back."

"Yeah, we won't be long. Maybe Nathan will show up and ask you to dance…" Brooke joked and Haley sent her a death glare before turning back to check out the place once again. As much as she was enjoying herself, it looked like it was going to see a long night.

**XXX**

_**Sometimes I feel  
I can't keep it together  
Then you hold me close  
And you make it better  
When I'm with you  
I can feel so unbreakable**_

Nathan was stumbling towards her now, and he didn't even know why. That party sucked major balls and he was bored to death. His dad was dragging him up and down all night to meet some of his acquaintances, hoping Nathan would be up to play the good and responsible son for once. Well, he wasn't. Not when she was around.

He spotted her some time ago, and he also saw the way Lucas and her friend were getting along. Nathan, on the other hand, was not having a good time. He was drinking like crazy and, if looks could kill, his dad would already have murdered him earlier.

Haley was talking with a guy now, and she seemed pretty interested in whatever shit he was telling her. There was no way Nathan would let _her_, of all people, have fun when he wasn't able to have fun as well.

The guy looked up at him and Haley followed his gaze, her face dropping at the sight of an extremely drunk Nathan holding an entire bottle of whisky tightly. He had a strange look on his face, and she knew what he was up to, it was always the same since they knew each other.

"Hey, Haley!"

'Oh, please, god, no…' She thought quietly, panic starting to kick in. She couldn't erase the sense of déjà vu, and this only made her feel worse. Nathan did things like that all the time when they were in college, but she never thought he would pull something like that to her now. She thought he might have grown up – of course, Lucas told her he had – but she was starting to see that Nathan was still the same asshole she met when she was a freshman in college, some years ago. She was not going to be nice to him this time, she knew better than that.

"You miss me?" He asked with a stupid drunk smile on his face. Some people were staring at the interaction, and Haley hoped Lucas would show up soon and drag Nathan out of the place.

"Nathan, please…"

"I know you do, Hales…"

"Don't call me that." She hissed and he smiled broadly at her.

Her eyes were narrowed and she looked pissed. He had no right to do that to her, and she hated him more than ever in that moment.

"Why don't you leave her alone, man?" The guy talked to him, trying to get Nathan out of there. He could see Haley getting uncomfortable and he wanted to do something. Besides, everybody had heard of Nathan Scott and his eccentric behavior, it was nothing like a secret. Nathan laughed exaggeratedly and then pushed the guy away, without bothering to even look directly at his face.

Haley hated how Nathan was always so full of himself, like he owned the world. She instantly remembered how his father walked inside of her dorm that one time years ago, and she thought Nathan was looking like him right now. She didn't want to acknowledge the idea, but it was true: Nathan Scott was turning into his dad. It made her feel a little sick after all, and the feeling surprised her.

"Why don't you fuck off, you prick?" Nathan shoved the guy away rudely.

"Nathan, stop it." Haley said more forcefully, but it looked like he was lost in this stare match with the guy. His blue eyes were darker, his jaw clenched tightly. It couldn't be good. What the hell was his problem after all?

"Hey, man, chill out. You're making a scene here…"

"I don't give a fuck about it!" Nathan yelled and then everyone in the room was staring at them. Still, Lucas and Brooke were nowhere to be seen.

"Dude, relax-"

"I'll relax when you fuck off!"

Nathan pushed him again, this time more forcefully, smiling a bit when the guy stumbled back, almost losing his balance. Haley tried to hold Nathan and stop him from doing anything more, but even drunk he could be a handful, so she didn't succeed. Before she knew it, Nathan threw a punch on the other guy's face, letting go of his bottle of whisky. The blonde guy fell on the floor rubbing the side of his face and Nathan was about to turn to Haley again when he felt someone kicking his legs forcefully, making him fell on the floor as well. The guy was fed up by now, and before Haley had a chance to try and stop Nathan again, the two of them had already started throwing punches and kicks to each other, destroying the table they were minutes earlier.

"Nathan!" She yelled at him, in an inutile attempt to bring him back to reality. His dad would be surely mad at him, she knew it, and deep inside she almost was certain that Nathan wanted exactly this. He wanted his dad to be angry at him. She saw when some paparazzi started taking pictures of the fight, knowing this could not be any good. Lucas told her how important it was to Dan that Nathan remained in good behavior that night, but Haley presumed his son had other plans.

"Nathan, stop it!"

Haley decided to back off, since none of it was working. She watched as Dan Scott finally glimpsed what was happening and she saw the look in his eyes. Lucas and Brooke came right after, a little too late though, but Haley felt relieved anyway. No one was better than Lucas Scott himself to calm down his little brother.

"Nathan!" Lucas got in the middle of them after motioning for Brooke to stay near Haley, and tried to hold his younger brother. Dan decided to help, holding the blond guy away from them. "Nathan, stop it!"

Nathan suddenly halted and Lucas let go of him slowly. Now things were not getting any better.

Dan went away, apologizing to everybody and coming up with some excuse, and Lucas was the one who hold Nathan's arm and dragged him outside without leaving a chance for him to protest.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Lucas shoved him away, clearly pissed by his brother's attitude. Sometimes Nathan was unbelievable.

"Gee, Lucas, calm down."

"Nathan! Did you see what happened? Dad is going to kill you!"

"Yeah, he will try." Nathan laughed sarcastically and Lucas scowled. It was serious this time, he knew that.

"Nathan, you're drunk. You promised me you wouldn't get drunk tonight."

"This party sucks. Where is Clay anyway? I didn't see him." Nathan asked him, completely ignoring Lucas' words.

"Well, I was just outside with him and Brooke, and maybe if you weren't so busy trying to beat some stranger up you would eventually have seen him too." Lucas run a hand through his short blond hair and sighed heavily. His brother was really out of line this time, and for the look in Dan's face, it was not going to end well. "What happened?" He tried to ask in a more calm voice. The damage was already done, so it was no use continuing to bite his head off about it.

Nathan shrugged. He didn't even know. One second he was there with Haley, the next this guy got in the way and he lost it.

"This is not about Haley, is it?" Lucas asked. "Please, Nathan, tell me it wasn't… oh, god. Nathan, I told you to stay out of her way tonight! This shit always happens and… man, we're not in college anymore! It's time for you to let this stupid thing go already!"

"There's nothing to let go." Nathan's jaw clenched again, and Lucas suddenly caught a glimpse of hurt crossing his brother's eyes. "I just don't like her and you know it. And I never invited her here. I never asked you to bring her back to my fucking life in the first place!"

"I just did her a fucking favor! She's my friend, Nathan, you know that! It was not so difficult to stay away from her and play it cool for tonight. You know those Japanese guys are here tonight and dad wanted you to make a good impression since they are interested in signing a contract with you, but looks like you just blew it, Nathan!" Lucas told him. He was starting to lose it.

"You know what? I'm out of here."

"Nathan!"

"See you later, Luke. Tell dad to enjoy the party."

Without waiting for more, Nathan made his way outside and Lucas cursed under his breath. He knew Nathan was trying to piss Dan off, but he just crossed a line. Besides, Haley was there too and she was slightly involved. His brother sure needed to learn how to manage his emotions, or things would start to get worse.

**XXX**

_**We're not gonna break  
Cause we both still believe  
We know what we've got  
And we've got what we need alright  
We're doing something right**_

_**Cause it's us against the world  
You and Me against them all  
If youre listening to these words  
Know that we are standing tall  
I don't ever see the day that  
I won't catch you when you fall**_

"Nathan!"

He was almost reaching his blue car, and when he heard her voice, he halted instantly. He didn't know why he did it, but he did. He never turned to look at her, though, but it didn't make such a difference anyway.

"What happened there?" She asked him in a demanding tone, her hands resting on her hips. "Nathan. I'm talking to you!"

When he finally turned to look at her, she saw the fire in his eyes.

"So now you talk to me."

"Stop it, Nathan." She took a step towards him and he ran a hand through his hair, tiredly. "Are you crazy or something?"

"You know what, Haley?" He shot her a sarcastic smile. "I think I must be."

She looked quizzically at him, wondering why he would say that. She had an idea though.

"Lucas already gave me a lecture, so you can back the hell off, I don't need you to tell me off." He added, his voice slurring a little bit. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going home."

Haley sighed and walked up to him, snatching the keys from his hands in a quick movement. Nathan's eyes were confused at first, but then he was glaring at her angrily, his eyes narrowed.

"Give me the keys, Haley." He demanded through gritted teeth.

"I sure as hell won't give you the keys, Nathan!" She answered him, visibly disturbed by him and his attitude. He knew she was angry, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get the hell out of that place before the press started doing more damage… if that was possible.

"Haley… I'm not in the mood for games. Give. Me. The. Keys."

"You're not driving like this."

Nathan blinked a few times and then started laughing, like she told him an incredibly funny story. Haley rolled her eyes.

"Since when do you care about me, Haley?" He asked, still laughing. She could smell the alcohol in him and that déjà vu sense was hitting her again. "Huh? Since when?"

"Nathan… this is crazy. I'll find Lucas and ask him to get you home."

"Just give me the keys and stay out of my way, Haley."

She was about to say something else when someone got the keys from her hands before she could react. A guy was now by her side, the keys on his hand, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I can manage from here." He told her. "I'll drive him home."

"And who are you?" She asked cautiously.

"I'm Clay Evans. Nathan's best friend and assistant."

Haley nodded her head quickly.

"Just make sure that he gets home safe." She told him in a low voice. She could feel Nathan's eyes on her, but she never looked back at him.

"I will." Clay nodded at her. "Thanks for taking care of him, miss…"

"Haley James." She completed watching a strange smile emerge on Clay's face. He held her gaze for a moment and then finally snapped out of it, his smile widening quickly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, miss James."

"C'mon, Clay, it's enough of this shit." Nathan interrupted them and his friend shot him a quick glance.

"See you later, Miss James. Let me drive this boy home."

Nathan tore his eyes away from her and she decided it was time to go back inside. He was safe for now. Well, he was, until the ball was over and his dad decided to go to him and see what that was about. If she could remember right, Nathan Scott would be in big trouble this time.

'Like I care…' She thought to herself, while walking back and looking for Brooke and Lucas. Something inside of her was aching at the thought of him though, and Haley started to wonder if coming to New York was a good idea after all. Back in California she was safe from him.

Now she had a feeling that Nathan Scott would be a constant in her life for a long time…

**To be continued**

**A/N: **Hey, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews as well! These first chapters are somewhat lacking Naley interaction, but I promise there'll be lots of it later on, as the plot develops. Hope you guys stick to it and keep reading! Oh, and the song I used on this chapter is **Us Against The World **by **Westlife. **


	4. Change of Plans

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**XxX**

**4. Change of Plans**

Nathan was experiencing one of the most terrible hangovers ever, and he surely wasn't in the mood for putting up with his father. He got out of the bed slowly, his head hurting. He was just in his boxers and didn't feel like changing it just because Dan Scott was there to see him. Lucas was there too, and Clay was probably still sleeping on the guest room.

Nathan scratched the back of his head and yawned, thinking about what could happen after all… his dad was usually furious when it came to his lack of responsibilities with the company, but he could feel this time would be worst.

He walked slowly to the living room, his eyes still a little blurry, but with a little smirk on his face.

"Finally!" Dan jumped from the couch while Lucas remained sit, just looking out for Nathan. Their dad looked pissed, and Nathan could already tell this was not going to be good. "So you mess up with your fucking reputation _and_ with the contract we were getting and you just… sleep?"

Nathan sighed heavily and put a hand on his waist.

"What would you expect me to do? I was tired and wasted. I needed to sleep."

"Nathan, I'm fed up with this!" Dan's voice suddenly was higher and he slammed his fist on the table in front of him. Lucas got up, but didn't say a thing. Nathan remained calm, his eyes locking with his father's. "You keep fucking with the company, now you just blew any chance for us to sign a contract with those people! So don't you dare kidding me about it, son, 'cause you know I won't take it this time!"

Nathan shook his head and let out a little sarcastic laugh before saying anything else.

"Whatever, dad." Nathan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on his chest. "Can you please stop yelling? My head is hurting…"

Dan was seeing red after that, and he looked like he would beat the crap out of Nathan anytime soon. Nathan, on the other hand didn't care much about his dad's tantrum and grabbed his bottle of whisky, pouring a good amount of the liquid on a glass. He was wishing his dad would stop bitching already, so he could resume his sleep. Probably he wouldn't be that lucky today.

"Do you want a shot?" He offered to his dad, a small smirk showing on his face.

It was all that his dad needed to lose it. Dan was already on top of Nathan on the floor when Lucas got to see what was going on, and he was actually surprised to see their dad attacking Nathan like that. Their father was punching his son like there was no tomorrow, and since the younger one was taken by surprise, he never got a chance to defend himself properly.

Dan grabbed Nathan by the neck and slammed his head on the floor, throwing some heavy punches on his face after that. Nathan was trying to hold his hands out of reach, but wasn't succeeding at that.

"Dad!" Lucas screamed, approaching them tentatively. He was surely happy when he saw Clay emerging from the guest room, and motioned for him to come over and help.

"You fucking little bastard!" Dan screamed while still punching his younger son. Nathan tried to shove him away with no success again, his head pounding with pain.

Clay and Lucas finally got a hold of Dan, pulling him up forcefully, while he still tried to hurt his son. It wasn't long before they were holding Dan far away from Nathan, who was still lying on the floor looking confused. He tried to get up, but felt a little dizzy, so he just looked at them. His dad was glaring at him furiously.

"Dad, stop it!" Lucas yelled at him, while tried to run towards Nathan again. "Chill out!"

As soon as he seemed to calm down a little, Lucas let him with Clay and helped Nathan to get up. The glass of whisky was now on the floor in pieces, the liquid splattered all over the living room.

The younger Scott had some forming bruises on his face, and his lower lip was slightly cut. He got up slowly, his hands traveling to his mouth. Yeah, his dad was an ass most of the time, but he never actually beat him. Well, except for that one time when he was in college… but that was a long time ago.

"You crossed a line, Nathan." Dan hissed, finally getting Clay to free him. He started fixing his suit, while looking at his son. "There's no way I can continue on letting you take care of the company. I worked too hard for it, you won't destroy it."

"You can't do anything." Nathan scowled and Dan laughed lightly, a smirk forming on his face.

"Oh, son… I can."

"I'm not handing it back to you, dad, you can forget that." Nathan smiled at him.

"You're already doing it, Nathan." Dan returned the fake smile and then looked at Lucas. "You can explain your brother about it, if you want. How about showing him the contract we signed when I handed him the assets for the company?"

"What is this about?" Nathan narrowed his eyes at his dad.

"You were always irresponsible… I always knew you'd screw up at some point, Nathan."

Lucas sighed while Dan left with a sick smile on his face. Clay shook his head, walking towards the two brothers. Nathan dropped himself on the couch, his head now hurting more than ever, and touched his mouth again.

"Do you want some ice?" Lucas offered.

"What is he talking about, Lucas? Can he take the company back?" Nathan ignored his question.

"I'll go get that ice." Clay motioned to the kitchen and went away, giving them some space to talk about that.

Lucas sat by his brother's side and shook his head slowly, trying to think about the situation.

"Actually, Nate, he probably can…"

Nathan chuckled. Of course he could. Dan Scott never would hand him the fucking company if he couldn't take it back someday, it was against the rules of course. Nathan cursed himself for being such an idiot… he never got to read anything on the contract after all, and his dad counted on that. Dan waited for him to fuck up.

"There must be a clause on this contract that allows him to do something if… well, if you messed things up."

Nathan sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair.

"It looks like the kind of thing he would do." Lucas told him, a sympathetic smile on his face. "I'm not trying to be an ass, but… I always told you this could happen. You had to be careful, Nate… and I warned you about the party too."

"Yeah, I know… it's just… well, I was planning on behaving… but then there was _her_ and everything got out of hand and-"

"Stop it, Nathan!" Lucas rolled his eyes, his face getting serious. "Look, don't try to blame this on Haley, okay? She has nothing to do with your bad behavior. I warned you she would be there, and I asked you to be away from her."

"Whatever, Luke, you know I don't like her."

"What's the deal with you two after all?" Lucas looked at his brother curiously. Nathan shifted uncomfortably on the couch, his face changing a little.

"That's not the point here, Lucas…"

"I want to know!" Lucas insisted. "You always hated each other, okay, but why it got so bad after…"

"Lucas!" Nathan interrupted him, almost losing his temper. "I do not want to talk about Haley, okay? Do you get it now? Just drop this fucking shit about her, we don't get along, that's all. I was doing fine here, I never asked you to bring her to New York, so don't expect me to be good to her."

"Well, I'll find out about this. I could ask her-"

"Fuck you, Lucas!" Nathan got up from the couch, visibly disturbed by the subject. "There's nothing to tell about this, let this fucking shit go!"

Lucas sighed and nodded his head after that, knowing fully well that his brother was not going to open up to him already. He was pacing on the living room, looking more nervous than before, and he knew it would be better to stick with the actual problem for now. He could ask about the Haley issue later, when they got a solution for the company problems.

"Ok." Lucas raised his hand, surrendering after all. He didn't want to fight with him. "Are you ok, man?"

Nathan stopped walking around and finally looked at his older brother, his face now showing the bruises. He was confused and still taken aback by his dad's reaction, and he was actually worried about losing the company to his dad. He wanted to piss him off, that was right, but Nathan never really wanted to lose control of anything. Maybe he just got too far this time, and this could not be any good.

"I'll be okay when you figure out something to fix this up." He said in a low voice.

"I can't believe Dan actually hit you…" Lucas shook his head while talking to his brother, and saw his eyes show a glimpse of hurt. "I mean… he never acted like this before. It was pretty scary."

Nathan nodded his head. Of course he never told Lucas anything about that one time when their dad punched him on the face, back in college days. His brother would be mad at Dan, and it would be terrible to Lucas if they got into a fight. Their dad never approved Lucas' decision to study Law, and he could easily stop paying for his graduation, and Nathan surely didn't want this to happen, so he kept quiet about that. It was a secret only he and Haley knew about.

And for once, he was grateful for her never telling Lucas what happened.

"Yeah, it was." Nathan nodded. "He's crazy… but it really doesn't matter, Luke, I just want to know what to do, okay?"

"Right, so let's think about something."

"How can I prevent him from taking back the company?" Nathan looked at his brother expectantly. He surely didn't want Dan to take it from him now, and he would do anything on his power to prevent him from doing it.

"I don't know now. If you can lend me a copy of the contract, I can have an idea. We'll see about it, Nathan. Now I suggest you stop messing with him. Don't be late for anything, don't skip work, don't get out of the office early. It'll just be worse for you. Listen to me, Nathan, I'm serious about it."

"Yeah… I know."

"I'll make some phone calls… you could look for this contract while I'm at it, and we can talk later about what we'll do."

**XxX**

"Haley, you can start telling me the truth now." Brooke laughed at his friend, seeing as she was getting all flustered with their discussion about Nathan Scott.

"Brooke, there's just nothing to tell. Nathan is an ass, you saw that yesterday."

"Oh, no. I saw Nathan Scott fighting with a guy 'cause he was jealous of you."

"What?"

Haley laughed nervously and Brooke just kept smiling at her friend, just waiting for her to spill the beans already and fill her with the story.

"Why would he beat up the guy who was flirting with you?"

"He just did it to piss me off." Haley rolled her eyes. "He was always like that back in college, it's not like he cares or is jealous. He just made a fool of himself, you saw that."

"Yeah, I did." Brooke nodded with a thoughtful look on her face now. "The press was all over him when he started that fight."

"It looked like his dad was pretty angry…" Haley sat near her friend. "His dad is an ass… I wonder what happened after all of that."

Brooke raised her eyebrows a little bit, suddenly curious.

"You know his dad?" She asked.

"I met him some times back in college, and the guy was pure evil. He was always calling Nathan and pressuring him on lots of things… he was always tense when his dad was around. It was nothing good. He treated Nathan pretty badly."

"What about Lucas? Dan was like that with him too?"

"Not that I knew about it." Haley sighed. "Dan was more interested in messing up Nathan's life… Lucas was okay most of the time."

"So… Nathan and you talked about his dad?" Brooke asked her, looking interested.

"We never really talked, Brooke… I just saw these things happen all the time… and… once, yeah, we actually talked a little bit about his dad when things apparently got a bit out of hand." Haley finally gave in. "But it was nothing major, though. Let's just forget Nathan. Now tell me about what you and Lucas were doing outside yesterday night!"

Brooke didn't manage to hide the smile that was showing on her face.

"He is such a sweet guy… we were talking… and he kind of asked me out."

"That's great!" Haley shrieked happily.

"Yeah, I know." Brooke agreed dreamily. "Coming to New York is turning out to be a good thing after all."

Haley nodded her head. Yes, living there was surely great. She was glad by being near to her friend Lucas, and her job was pretty nice too. The only problem was Nathan. She didn't want to be near him, but unfortunately, she wasn't being any lucky with this.

"Yeah, it is. So when are you going out with Lucas?"

"Next Friday. We need to go shopping! But first, let's grab some lunch."

"I'm up to this."

**XxX**

"So basically, dad trapped you."

Nathan sighed and looked at his brother. Lucas handed the papers back to him and raised his eyebrows, waiting for Nathan to say something.

"That's just great…"

"And Dan can actually get back your part of the company." Lucas added. "According to the contract, he can book a meeting with the directors in a few weeks, to decide your future there. Since you're being all reckless and everything, he can easily get you out."

"So can I do something?"

"In fact, you can. I read this contract a lot of times and … well, if you behave - and I mean _really behave – _it would be more difficult for him to have arguments against you. The fact is, you already did a lot of stupid things, Nathan, but surely you could revert this. If you can make everyone believe you're being good for the interests of the company, maybe he would back off."

Nathan frowned.

"That easy?"

"It's not that easy, Nathan. That means you'd have to change everything you've doing until now. No more crazy parties, no more fighting in clubs, no more sleeping around with all these famous models… and no more getting wasted in public. It's apparently the only way to make it impossible for Dan to do it."

"So basically I'd just have to play nice for some time?"

"You'd have to actually be responsible, Nathan, not just pretend it. I suggest you start doing what I told you: go to work, do everything you're supposed to, attend to all your meetings… and show them that you can do it. You'll have to change everything."

"That's all?"

"Actually... no. Nathan, you know our dad, and even if you can really show everybody that you changed – which I doubt, 'cause dad knows you pretty well and he'll probably think this is an act – he certainly will offer the directors some money or anything, to make them be on his side. He is not going to let you get away with it. It won't be easy."

"Are you telling me that even if I play nice and all of this crap, he can still win?"

"Yes… and he probably will. All of the directors want you out, Nathan. Of course they want to get your position… so they'll obviously vote against you on this."

"That means he won again…" Nathan sighed and shook his head, visibly disturbed. "I'm tired of this shit, man. Dan is always fucking everything up."

Lucas smiled a little and shook his head at his brother.

"There's one more thing you can do, Nathan."

His brother quickly looked at him again expectantly.

"If you got married, you could transfer all your assets to your wife. Then, he couldn't do a thing about it. You would still be in control of everything, and it would be easier for you to stay working there."

Nathan blinked a few times, thinking if he got that right. Get married? Lucas was probably going crazy. Besides, he would _never_ transfer his part of the company to any woman, especially to some random woman he never met before. This was totally out of the question.

"Lucas, are you out of your mind? I'll not get married. I don't even have a girlfriend! Besides, it's not like I would just give away my fucking business to anybody."

"If you do this, Nathan, Dan will lose the control over the assets, and this way you won't have to worry about it anymore. Of course you'll still have to play nice, since you'll be working for them, but he will never be able to get it back if you do this."

"Are you serious? Lucas, this is crazy! Why don't I just transfer this to you? Or maybe if I transferred them to Clay? Wouldn't it be easier?"

Lucas shook his head.

"Dan is not dumb. You really should've read this contract before signing it, bro." Lucas laughed lightly. "He actually added to the contract, the fact that you couldn't transfer these assets to me or to Clay Evans, or any _friends_ you might have. He probably thought about this possibility. So, the only option we have is-"

"I'll have to get married." Nathan finished in a low voice.

"And of course they'll have to believe this is an actual marriage. You can't just marry some girl and transfer everything to her and keep acting like you're single. The press would make a fuss of it and it wouldn't do you any good. Besides, we want the directors to see you can be responsible and getting married means that you'll be settling down. It would be the perfect match."

Nathan knew that. There was only one problem.

"But… it can't be some random person. And I don't know a girl who I could trust to do it."

"That's why I'm thinking we should talk to Haley."

"Haley?" Nathan got up quickly. "As is _Haley James?_"

"Do you know another Haley?" Lucas scowled.

Nathan shook his head frantically before start talking again.

"What? No way I'm marrying that girl."

"Nathan, we're running out of time here… besides… I trust Haley, and I know she would never do anything to harm you on this matter. This is serious. And she's responsible and a great girl, it would be nice to you to be related with her. You are always sleeping with those models, or with random crazy girls. Haley is just a teacher, she's a normal person… she's not famous, she's not involved in any problems… it would be great to your image."

Nathan ran a hand through his hair, thinking about it. Even if he agreed to do it, he doubted she would accept to do anything to help him by any means. On the other hand, he knew he didn't have any other options, and he also knew he could trust her. She could be annoying and everything, but Haley was a good person. He couldn't deny that.

"Oh, god…" Nathan sat down again. "I can't believe this is happening."

"So… you agree with this?" Lucas asked carefully. "I can talk to her."

"She's never going to do this for me." Nathan quickly said, a hint of worry on his voice.

Lucas patted his brother's shoulder and smiled.

"Leave this to me, little brother. I'll talk to her."

Nathan nodded weakly, while watching his brother vanishing through the front door. He couldn't believe that. He just wanted to be away from her, but now it looked like Haley James was his only option to stay in control of his own life.

**To be Continued…**

**A/N: Hey, sorry for the delay! I know this is a short chapter, but this was a really difficult chapter for me to write. I also wanted you to know that I know nothing about contracts or law issues. I just managed to get things the way I wanted in order to get this story started, so I'm sorry for any mistakes and for the lack of Naley on this one. But I can promise there'll be plenty of it on the next chapters, and we'll also get to see more about their past. Thanks for the reviews, I'm really happy to see you guys are enjoying it. Next chapter will be up real soon.**


	5. The Proposal

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**A/N: **Hey, I'm sorry about the delay on this chapter… but it's finally here. I got caught up with some college assignments and tests that I didn't have much time to work on this one. Besides, I was really caught up in playing Heavy Rain on Ps3. I know it has nothing to do with the story but, if you have a ps3, you should totally play it. It's such a great game! Oh, I know the chapter is too short again. Next ones will be longer. ;) Hope you read and review, and thanks for all the kind ones I got for chapter four. You guys are amazing!

**XxX**

**5. The Proposal**

"_What would you do if we actually got stuck with each other like… forever?"_

_Haley smiled and at the same time a curious expression formed on her pretty face. Nathan laughed lightly when he saw the look on her face, and then drifted his eyes away again. They were sitting just outside their building, and it was a beautiful night. Haley couldn't tell exactly how they got there or started talking, but now they were, and Nathan was doing a good job on not being a massive jerk to her. _

"_What?" She laughed. "What do you mean by that?"_

"_I don't know." He shrugged. "Life has some weird twists…"_

_Haley nodded quietly. Nathan crossed his arms on his chest and sighed before talking again. _

"_It's probably not happening though." Nathan stated and she looked at him again. "You're going back to California, and I'll be moving back to New York to work with my dad. We'll be really far apart from each other."_

"_C'mon, Nathan, it's not like you'll miss me or something like that." She rolled her eyes playfully and he smiled. _

"_Maybe I will."_

_The small smile continued on his lips and he saw Haley clearly blush at his words. She opened her mouth and closed it again, and then frowned a bit. _

"_I'll miss our banter." He explained a bit later. "It's actually fun." _

_Haley crossed her arms too and nodded slowly. Not that she found anything funny, but she was a little taken aback by Nathan's revelation. Was he really telling her he would miss her when college was over? _

"_We still have a year and a half to go." She said a while later and Nathan agreed. "I'm already missing Lucas, you know? He'll be leaving by the end of the semester…"_

"_Yeah… but I'm sure you guys will still be friends." Nathan assured her. _

"_I know." She smiled. "It's just weird…"_

"_You know I'm not going anywhere until next year, so… there'll be one Scott left here." He smiled back at her and Haley laughed. _

"_Yeah."_

_She looked away, her mind drifting away. College was almost over to Lucas, Nathan and her would be graduating the next year... she couldn't believe time had passed so fast. And in that exact moment, Haley felt like she was going to miss all of that so much. And even if she wouldn't admit, she would miss the dark haired Scott too. _

"_I'm hungry." He interrupted her thoughts and got up quickly. Haley looked up to him and then was surprised by him offering his hand for her to take. "C'mon, let's get something to eat. You can consider yourself lucky tonight, James… dinner will be on me." _

_She accepted his hand and he pulled her up smiling a bit at her surprised face. Haley was different that night and Nathan was enjoying it. They started walking together, like they were close friends or something, and he felt comfortable with this new situation. _

"_What about some pizza?" He offered while they walked away in a slow pace. _

"_I'm in."_

"_I know a good place." _

**XxX**

When Haley woke up her heart was pounding like crazy. She ran a hand through her hair and sat up, closing her eyes briefly, not knowing why she was dreaming about that. It happened some years ago, things were different now, everything was different. But still, it felt like she was back there again. She could almost feel him touching her again.

"Haley?"

Brooke entered her bedroom slowly and Haley smiled at her friend.

"Sorry to wake you up." Brooke gave her an apologetically look.

"It's nothing, really. I was already awake." Haley looked at the clock besides her bed, and saw it was just some minutes past eight PM. She went there to take a nap after their little trip to the mall, since they spent almost all day there and she was tired.

"Lucas is here." Brooke told her. "He wants to talk to you."

"Okay… tell him I'll be ready in a sec."

Brooke nodded and returned to the living room with a small smile on her face. Lucas was waiting on the sofa, a slightly nervous look on his face and Brooke could already tell it was a serious issue he had to talk about with Haley.

"She's coming. Do you want something to drink?"

"No, I'm good. So… it's nice to see you so soon." He let out a sweet smile and Brooke responded with another one.

"Yeah, it is."

Brooke sat next to him and Lucas suddenly focused only on her, forgetting anything about Nathan and his problems. She was a beautiful girl, and he could already tell she was a good person. There was something in her that made him feel comfortable and happy.

"Haley mentioned you're job hunting." Lucas started and smiled when Brooke nodded her head. "I can help you out. I mean, I can talk to Nathan, and I'm sure he can work something out for you."

Brooke smiled showing her dimples and Lucas thought he never saw such a beautiful girl before. She was smart, funny, incredibly stunning and amazing.

"That would be great! Really, Lucas, thank you! But… do you think he will want to help me out? I mean… Nathan and Haley are not exactly friends, and I am her best friend."

"Just wait and see." He winked at her. Haley finally entered the living room after that and sat down next to them. "Hey, Hales… sorry to wake you up."

"That's ok. So… what is it?"

Brooke excused herself and gave them some space to talk. Haley looked at him curiously and Lucas scratched his head. Was there an easy way to ask Haley to marry his brother? Well, the answer was _no._ He had to do that anyway, and he could only hope for her to accept it.

"I need to ask you a favor." Lucas started cautiously.

"Is it about Brooke?" Haley smiled at him and Lucas laughed nervously before answering.

"Actually, it's about Nathan."

Haley frowned, but didn't say anything. She wanted Lucas to keep talking, even though she didn't want anything to do with Nathan Scott.

"He's in trouble, Hales." Lucas continued. "Dan was pretty mad at him about yesterday…"

"I can imagine." She said to him with a small sympathetic smile. "But… what do you want me to do?"

"Look, Haley… I don't even know how to say it to you… or… to ask this. Truth is, Nathan can be really an ass sometimes and I know this, but…"

"Lucas, what this has to do with me?"

"Dan is trying to get the company back… and you could help Nathan out."

"Lucas, I know nothing about these things… and besides… why would I want to help _him_?"

"Just because you're my friend and he's my brother… and you know how he's important to me." Lucas took a deep breath and then shook his head lightly. "Dan actually hit him today, Haley… it was awful. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him hitting Nathan…"

Haley sighed. She could see how Lucas was taken aback by that, but she still couldn't see how she could be of any help to Nathan or his company. In fact, if Nathan wanted her help so badly why wasn't he there?

"Is he okay?" She asked a while later and Lucas nodded quickly.

"He is. Physically. But he's kind of desperate now."

"That's what he gets for being irresponsible." Haley rolled her eyes.

"Haley… I know you guys don't really get along, but please… he needs your help. It has to be you."

"Luke, I'm not getting it. What does he want from me? I can't really do anything to help him, and even if I could, I-"

"He needs you to marry him, Haley." Lucas interrupted her and watched her face. Haley's expression was unreadable for some instants, and he didn't know what to think about her reaction. Yeah, he knew it was not going to be any easy, but he had to try… there was no other option. They could trust Haley, and he was sure Nathan knew that.

"He needs what?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, I know this sounds crazy, but it's the truth… Seems like Dan trapped Nathan, and there's only one way out. If he married someone trustable and then transferred his assets to his wife, Dan couldn't take the company back."

"Well, tell him to ask somebody else. I'm not going to marry him." Haley got up, her hands on her hips. She was pacing frantically now, and Lucas could tell it was not a good thing.

"Haley… I never asked you a favor before. There's no one else we could ask this… you're the only girl we can fully trust, and Nathan agreed with that. It was my idea."

"Lucas, this is crazy! I could never marry him!"

"It's not going to be forever, Haley! Just for some time, okay? Please, do this for me."

"Luke, this is serious! Marriage is serious. Besides, I would have to play his wife and I'm not really fond of the idea."

"Look, Haley, he's desperate, okay? I really can't find another way out of this… and I know you have nothing to do with him, and I'm also aware that Nathan is quite an asshole to you. But please… just think about it. Let me know when you have a final answer."

Haley looked at him and sighed. She couldn't believe her ears. And also, she couldn't believe Nathan had agreed with that stupid and crazy idea.

**XxX**

When Nathan opened his apartment door he was not surprised to see Haley standing there, her face displaying a hard expression. He looked at her without emotion and waited for her to say something. Instead, Haley entered his apartment without saying anything.

"Oh, come in, Hales." He told her sarcastically while closing the door. She was already in the middle of his living room, a pissed look on her face now.

"Why are you doing this?"

Nathan started walking towards her. His face was blank and he knew she was probably mad at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Nathan, don't play dumb with me!" She hissed.

He chuckled and walked towards the table, grabbing his whisky bottle. He started pouring some on a glass before deciding to take a look at her face again.

"Nathan…"

"Think of this as a deal, Haley." Nathan took a sip of his whisky. "It'll be good to both of us."

"Yeah, right, like being married to _you_ can be any good."

"Look, Haley… it's not like I want it either. But…" He trailed off sighing. "I trust you, okay? I can't marry some random girl and just give away my company like that…"

"This is not my problem."

"I know! And I didn't want to get you involved in this shit, but… Lucas said it's my only way out."

Haley sat down on his couch while running her hands through her hair nervously. Of course she didn't want to do it, but something inside of her was pulling in that direction. Besides, she knew how important he was to Lucas, and she was aware of how mean Dan Scott could be. She didn't want Nathan to have more problems with him.

"Let's suppose I'll do it…" She started after some time and he looked at her with attention. "Would I have to move here?"

"I suppose so. I need my dad and all those guys to believe it, Haley."

"Nathan… this is a crazy idea."

"I know… So… will you marry me or not?" He asked with an impatient voice.

Haley sighed and looked seriously at him. Then she chuckled lightly and Nathan raised his eyebrows at her, trying to figure out what was so funny.

"What?"

"It's just… crazy." Haley answered sarcastically. "You're asking me to marry you. I never though I would hear those words from you of all people."

Nathan rolled his eyes at her and took a sit next to her, still holding his glass of whisky. He knew this situation was messed up, but he couldn't really do anything. If he could choose, he would never ask Haley to do such a thing, but according to Lucas, it was his only way out.

"Will you?" Nathan asked again.

"What?"

"Marry me. Will you marry me?" This time his voice was low and there was no hint of arrogance. He was truly pleading her to help him out. Nathan and Haley were not friends, and never were. She couldn't see why she had to do that for him, she didn't even owe him anything. But for some strange and weird reason, all she did was nod her head in response.

"You sure?" He looked at her with full attention.

"Yeah. I'll do it."

Nathan nodded and finished his whisky, placing the empty glass on the table nearby. Then he grabbed his cell phone, getting up right after.

"I'm calling Lucas. Let's do it then."

Haley sighed and got up too, but going in the opposite direction. She was looking through the window and thinking about the choice she made instants ago. Her whole life would change because of that, even for some time, and she knew that. She was fully aware that they were not friends, not even civil to each other, and Haley didn't know if she could cope with living in Nathan's house. She wanted nothing to do with him, but now, she was stuck with him. She would be married to him in a few hours, maybe.

"_What would you do if we actually got stuck with each other like… forever?"_

She closed her eyes at the though, and remembered when he asked her that. That was a good question.

On the other side of the room, Nathan was patiently waiting for his brother to pick up the phone already. He was looking at Haley while doing it, thinking about the changes it would make. He would be married to her. How scary was that?

"Hey, Nate. What's up?" Lucas finally answered with a cheerful voice. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Haley's here."

"I see…" Lucas started cautiously. "What did she told you?"

"She'll do it." Nathan told him in a low voice and heard Lucas gasp. "What?"

"Nothing… it's just… well, I didn't think she would accept it. She was pretty adamant about this arrangement. What did you say to change her mind?"

Nathan chuckled lightly. He knew better than that. If Haley accepted this, it was because she wanted to. Nathan knew how she was, and if she didn't want to, nothing would change her mind. Not even him.

"Nothing. She was pretty mad at first, but… she agreed to it after some time."

"That's a good thing." Lucas told him.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well, now, you get married." Lucas answered calmly.

"When?"

"The sooner the better." Lucas answered. "This week."

"Okay… I'll talk to her. Come by tomorrow so we can talk about this together."

"I'll do it. Be nice to her, ok, Nate? She's doing you a big favor."

"I'll try. Bye Lucas."

Nathan finished the call and gazed back at her with a strange feeling at the pit of his stomach. Being this near to Haley James was something he was not looking forward to, but he couldn't do a thing. What was he supposed to do anyway? She was still there looking through the window, and probably thinking about the same things. He knew she didn't want to be there. He wondered what made her do this to him. Maybe… just maybe…

'Not a chance.' Nathan thought to himself, slightly worried about the entire situation. He was still looking at her back, while she was still lost in her thoughts. Then he started approaching her slowly without even thinking about what he was doing. His eyes traveled to her lower back and he smiled slightly when he spotted the exposed skin in that area. Nathan's hands reached to touch her but he stopped himself from doing it as soon as his eyes noticed the small '23' tattoo. His smile vanished almost instantly and he closed his eyes painfully.

"I called Lucas." He spoke after some time and Haley turned around, quite surprised to see him standing so near to her.

"Oh… okay." She nodded quietly. "What?"

Nathan shook his head and took two steps back without breaking the eye contact. She was nervous, he could see, but nothing compared to him now. He looked at his hands for some seconds and then his mind got lost in the past again…

**XxX**

"_Nathan, this is ridiculous."_

_He watched her while laughing lightly at her. Haley was frantically pacing now while he was comfortable sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area of the tattoo parlor. He was a bit drunk and so was Haley, but even then she managed to be responsible. _

"_C'mon, Haley, it's just a tattoo. It'll be fun."_

"_It'll be on my body forever."_

"_That's just a detail." Nathan got up and walked up to her, smiling. "What are you planning on getting?"_

"_I don't know. Why are we doing this again?" She asked him, quite unsure about doing this or not. Nathan rolled his eyes at her. "First of all, we're not friends, why are we hanging out in the first place?"_

_Nathan chuckled and was surprised when she smiled at him. _

"_That's a great question, Miss James. But the point is… you lost our little bet, so here we are. You'll get a tattoo. You just have to decide what one you want to get."_

"_Okay…" She rolled her eyes at him playfully. "I'll do this…"_

_Nathan kept looking at her for some time while she was probably thinking about her options, looking at some tattoo pictures on the walls. Then she smiled again at him and looked in his blue eyes with determination. _

"_What?" He asked her._

"_I already know what I'm getting."_

"_Good. Now tell me."_

"_Wait and see, Scott." _

_**XxX**_

"Nathan?"

He looked at her and noticed she was standing just a few feet away from him. Her eyes were locked with his and he couldn't tell if she was worried or not. Probably she wasn't.

"Nathan? Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm ok." He answered quickly and then sighed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Haley, I'm ok." He reassured her, his voice getting a little higher. "Don't need to act like you fucking care about me anyway."

"And you don't need to be an ass all the time."

He took some distance from her and then sat down on the couch. He shouldn't be thinking about the past, especially if the past included Haley.

"We'll get married this week." He told her without looking in her eyes. "Lucas is coming by tomorrow morning and I suppose you should be here."

"Okay… I'll be here. I'll call him as soon as I get home to set the details."

"You can leave now."

"You're such a gentleman, Nathan… I almost forgot about that." She told him sarcastically before leaving.

He just rolled his eyes at her end the grabbed his whisky bottle while she leaved the apartment with a very unpleased expression. He opened the bottle slowly, his eyes roaming through the apartment. Sooner, he would be living together with her. He would be Haley James' husband.

He was surely not looking forward to that.

**To be Continued…**


	6. Dream Weekend

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **Nathan Scott is rich, handsome, CEO of a big Software Company and totally reckless. When his dad wants to take the company back, Nathan's brother comes up with a plan to prevent it. But maybe he just pulled the trigger to more trouble. NALEY. AU.

**A/N: **I'm finally done with college for this semester and I think there will be some time left to update this story faster. Anyways, thank you guys for the reviews on the previous chapter, I hope you all leave a comment on this one too. Now, let's get to it!

**XxX**

**6. Dream Weekend **

When Nathan entered his office the next morning, Clay was already there running through some documents. His head shot up immediately at the sight of Nathan getting there on time for once, and made an attempt to greet him, but Nathan clearly was not on the mood. Working with him was great most of the time, and Nathan was a good boss and a great friend. But Clay knew when to keep his mouth shut, that was for sure.

Nathan sat at his comfortable chair, gazing at the computer screen in front of him for a long time. His mind was a mess, he was a mess… his life was slowly turning into one too. He still couldn't quite believe Haley accepted his proposal, but now it was all settled and they would be married soon. He never expected this would happen to them, but it was now. Guess you never know when this will change.

He sighed and then shook his head while looking at Clay. His friend was still looking at some papers, quietly working by himself. He almost didn't see him when he arrived at the office.

"Hey."

"Hey, man. How are you doing?" Clay asked him without bothering to make eye contact.

"Horrible I guess. You?"

Clay finally looked at his friend, putting the papers aside and giving him full attention.

"What's wrong?"

Nathan sighed again, and run his hands through his hair.

"I'm marrying Haley…"

"She accepted?" Clay asked cautiously, but really curious.

"Yeah… seems like it."

"Guess this is good."

"You could say that… well, Dan will back off, I hope, but I guess I'll get more problems coming my way."

Clay chuckled. He knew about Haley. Well, he knew what Nathan told him, so he probably didn't get to hear the entire story. Nathan told him something about her long time ago, as soon as he was back from college, and Clay thought there was something more to all of that. He even inquired Lucas about it some time but his brother didn't know a thing.

"Yeah… you and Haley…" Clay smirked at him. "I always knew the two of you had something going on."

Nathan scowled. What the hell was he talking about anyway? He didn't even know Haley, let alone about something they supposedly had.

"What?" Clay asked when Nathan sent him a death glare.

"You better cut the shit with me, Clay, I'm really not in the mood."

"I was just saying…"

"Yeah, so you can shut up now." Nathan rubbed his temples for some seconds, and took a deep breath. Then, he opened his drawer and started looking for something in it.

Clay raised his eyebrows at him and shook his head. He was worried about Nathan, he truly was… he knew how Dan Scott could be a royal pain in the ass most of the time, but he also knew Nathan was playing with fire all the time. He knew his dad would do something at some point, so… he could have made things the easy way and do things right once in a while. Now he was stuck in this marriage thing and there was nothing he could do to get out of the situation.

"What do I have for today?"

"Uh… they sent in some papers for you to take care of… you know, things that were being discussed in the last meeting. The one you… missed. They need some answers, and they want it before noon, so it was a good move coming to the office early for a change."

"I just wish he would let me do things my way…" Nathan muttered under his breath while taking the papers from Clay's hands. "I'm really tired of him trying to control me. He did this since I was born."

"Why don't you just… you know, Nate, you could just let this thing go."

"And give up everything to him? No way in hell. You know, Clay, this is what he wants. He want me to give up so he can finally show who is the best… well, I'm not letting him win."

"You know, it's about time you two quit this stupid thing."

"I think so too." Nathan nodded his head emphatically. "So this is it. I'm not stepping back on this. He wanted me to take charge of the company and here I am. So what if I don't want to be a crappy boss like he was? He wants me to run this thing like he did, and there's no way in hell I think like him. He only cares about the money and all of this shit, but he forgets there's also people working here who really need these jobs."

He looked down at the documents and then he started looking for something. Clay studied his face with full attention. Nathan was right, but even though, Clay thought it was not worth it. Dan was not worth it.

"Here." Nathan handed him a paper. "There they are again, trying to make me sign this damn thing."

"What is it?"

"They want to fire these people only to cut down on expenses." Nathan's face was flustered, and he looked really frustrated. "Why don't they cut down on their salary?"

"Nathan… you know how things are…"

"Yeah, I do. But I'm against this." He snatched the paper back, ripped it to pieces and then tossed it in the trash can. "They can kiss my ass! I'm still in charge of this shit, and no one is going to be fired."

Clay rubbed the back of his head and sighed heavily while looking at Nathan. He was about to say something when the door opened right away and Dan Scott stepped in the room without a hesitation. He looked at Nathan with a smug grin on his face.

"Hello, son. Good to see you here."

"Unfortunately I can't say the same to you." Nathan scowled.

"Very funny." Dan approached him. "So you decided to come and enjoy yours last days here?"

Nathan shook his head, his lips curving in a small grin. He got up from his chair and faced his dad with a challenging glare. He was not going to go back now. He was not letting him win this time.

"Two can play this game, dad."

"You think you're so smart, Nathan…" Dan smiled at him. "Be careful, son."

"What do you want here anyway?"

"Just wanted to check on you and see if you're okay." Dan smiled again and saw Nathan roll his eyes at him.

"Yeah, like you care. Get out of my office."

"Enjoy while you can, Nathan. It'll be over soon."

The younger one didn't bother to answer. Dan was out of his office as fast as he came there, and then he fell against his chair with a deep sigh.

Clay shook his head and looked at his friend with a sympathetic smile. Nathan closed his eyes for some seconds, his hands travelling to his hair and messing them right away. This day was turning into craziness and it didn't even begin.

"Don't let him get to you, okay?"

"That's what I'm doing, man… he's not going to ruin me this time."

**XXX**

"Are you sure about this?"

Haley sighed and looked at Lucas with a small frown. They were at Nathan's apartment, waiting for him to arrive, since he called Lucas and told them to wait for him there.

"This is something big, Haley." Lucas shook his head and faced her with attention and concern. "I mean… you'll marry him."

"You were the one who came asking me to marry him, Lucas. I don't know why you're so full of doubts now."

"I just… Look, Haley, I want to help him out, but I also don't want to force you into anything. I don't want you to feel like you _have_ to do it…"

"I know, Luke…"

"So… you accepted this. Why?"

Haley bit her lower lip and shook her head lightly, thinking about the question he just made. It was a tough one. Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe it was really just for Lucas. She didn't want to upset him by saying no. She didn't really know why she accepted this proposal, but here she was, waiting for him to set the details.

"I don't know." She finally let out.

"I just want you to know you don't have to do it if you don't really want it. I know how you two kept fighting back in college… I mean, you're not really friends."

"I'll do it, Luke. It's okay."

He nodded at her, still trying to figure the situation out. When he spotted the magazine on the small coffee table near them, his face softened a little bit and he smiled, picking it up. Haley gazed at him curiously when he finally looked satisfied to find something.

"Have you seen this?" He spoke up after some seconds, a small smile on his face.

"A gossip magazine?" Haley chuckled.

"Yeah, my secretary was reading it earlier today and I decided to bring it to show you."

"So you're into celebrity gossip." Haley laughed lightly at him and Lucas rolled his eyes at her playfully.

"I am, since you and my beloved little brother are in the middle of it."

"What?"

Haley grabbed the magazine, quickly looking at it with wide eyes. There it was, pictures of Nathan at the charity ball, pictures of her, pictures of the fight… she couldn't believe it. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she read the headline out loud.

"New York's most desired bachelor found a new love? Nathan Scott fights for a girl in Charity Ball." She rolled her eyes and continued reading. "Haley James is a teacher, was born in California, and is also a former friend of Nathan from college. She is also known to have connections with his older brother, Lucas Scott."

She stopped reading right away when her eyes glanced at a picture. It was her and Nathan's picture from years ago. He was with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, a small smile on his face. She was hugging him back, a drunken grin on her face and a look of complete happiness. She remembered that picture… she had no idea how they managed to find this, since she didn't have it, but she remembered.

Lucas waited for her to react, but nothing came for a long time. He followed her gaze and he paid some attention to the picture she was so intently gazing at. He was curious about it too. He never saw that one, besides, he didn't even know Nathan and Haley had taken pictures together. Especially not just the two of the together.

"I think I never saw this one." He told her quietly and she closed the magazine. "When was it taken?"

"In the middle of our senior year I guess…" She slowly answered him, visibly surprised by the whole thing. "How did they get this picture?"

"No idea. I didn't even know this existed. I mean… you two hugging each other and taking pictures together?"

"It's the only one." She sighed and then continued talking, closing her eyes briefly. "There was a party… Nathan and I were there. We just drank a lot, that was all… I didn't even remember this one. Can't say who took the picture either."

She knew she was lying, but of course she did not want to give Lucas further explanation on the picture. Well, they were drunk, it was true, but they were not in a simple college party. Nathan made a promise to her and she just made an effort for him to keep it up. Even though she and Nathan were not best friends, Haley knew how much she loved that day since the beginning. It was great.

"You guys look good." Lucas smiled sweetly at her, opening the magazine again. Actually, they looked incredible together. The way they were hugging each other like they were the closest friends or… maybe something else. "You look happy."

"I guess I really was…" She quietly agreed with him.

Lucas decided not to push it. She was certainly taken aback by all of that, so maybe he would just ask Nathan about it sometime later. That is, if his little brother wanted to share the information with him.

"Now everybody thinks I'm dating him." Haley interrupted his thoughts and Lucas shook his head and smiled a little.

"Well, that's a good thing." He told her. "And they surely did a pretty nice job in finding out hidden things."

"Yeah… it looks like they did."

She glanced at the picture again and felt her head spinning like crazy. There are always some things you can never really forget.

**XxX**

"_What the fuck, Haley? What are you doing here anyway?"_

_She rolled her eyes at him and stared at his back. He was still sleeping when she got in, and it was early, but she didn't really care. He promised they would do it, now he had to keep up to his promise. She was not letting it go so easily. _

"_Nathan, cut the crap and get up already." She dropped herself on his bed beside him, facing the ceiling. He let out a frustrated groan and covered his head with his pillow, maybe expecting her to take a hint and leave. It was still eight am and he was so not in the mood to get up. She was a real pain in the ass, he didn't know how Lucas managed to live with her for four entire years. _

"_Get out of my bed." He grumped. _

"_I will, as soon as you get up too." _

"_Haley, why can't we go later? It's not like we'll be late or anything." He whined again, starting to feel beat. God, she was persistent. He couldn't recall why he agreed to go with her to this stupid show. They would have to drive up to Charlotte, which means they'd have to spend a whole day together. Together. Just the two of them, driving to a show. Oh, man, that surely didn't sound good. _

"_Well, I don't want to get there in the last minute, so we can leave now and enjoy the day."_

"_What's to enjoy anyway?" He finally sat on the bed, facing her. Haley bit her lower lip slowly when she found herself staring at his bare chest, while he was still gazing at her face with his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm waiting." Nathan spoke again, and then she decided to meet his gaze. _

"_Lots of things." Haley got out of the bed instantly, thinking it was better to keep distance. "C'mon, Nathan, you promised you'd go with me."_

_He rolled his eyes and groaned. Yeah, he promised, he knew that. She was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to finally get up and get ready for their little weekend. She didn't know why she was so excited about it, besides going to the show, of course. She was feeling nervous, just by thinking they would be spending an entire day together. _

"_I'll go, Haley, I just didn't know you wanted me to get up so early. God…" He shook his head at her, checking the clock near his bed. "If Lucas was here he could go with you and I'd be happy sleeping till noon."_

"_Whatever. Lucas is not here and I want to go to this show. Now get your ass out of this bed and go take a shower. I'm all ready." She smiled brightly at him, but it slowly faded when Nathan managed to get out of the bed, only wearing a pair of black boxers. He didn't seem to mind, though, and started scanning his drawers for clothes. _

_As soon as he found a new pair of boxers and a pair of pants, he turned to look at her and frowned when he saw the look on her face._

"_Are you okay?" He asked cautiously and Haley snapped her head to him, their eyes matching. _

"_Yeah. Um… yeah, I'm ok. You should go and get ready."_

"_I won't take long. You can wait here."_

_Haley tried to clear her head while he was in there, thinking about anything else. For a while now, being near him made her nervous for some strange reason, but she was totally sure it was only happening with her. He couldn't care less if she saw him almost naked some seconds ago. Yeah, he didn't care. He never did anyway. But after spending some time with him, maybe things were changing. She didn't want to think about it, but maybe, just maybe, it was the truth. _

_When he stepped out of the shower he was just wearing his pants, no shirt on. His hair was still wet and he was running the towel on it to dry. She shook her head in order to wake up and stop staring at him like that before he could notice. _

"_We can go." He told her when he finished putting his shirt on. He grabbed a backpack that was under the bad and then fixed his hear quickly. "It's all set."_

"_You got extra clothes?" She asked with an eyebrow raised at him. _

_Nathan pointed to his backpack and started walking towards her, his eyes locked with hers and an unreadable expression on his face. Haley held her breath when she saw him getting near and near, without knowing what to do. What was he doing anyway? When he was just a few inches away from her, Nathan stopped, his eyes still locked with hers. _

_She stared at his lips for some seconds, wondering why he was so close to her. Maybe it just her mind playing tricks on her, but for a brief second there, she though Nathan was really going to kiss her. _

_He frowned at her and then reached his right hand in her direction. But when she thought he was going to touch her, his hand passed beside her head, only to get his car keys which where hanging right behind her. Haley cursed silently and Nathan showed her the keys. _

"_Can we go?" He asked in a deep voice. She nodded fast and got out of the room without waiting for anything else. What was happening to her? _

_XxX_

_They were walking together down the streets, a good two hours after they arrived in Charlotte. Their small trip was pretty calm, since Haley decided to sleep the whole time. They had lunch as soon as he got there, and now, they were just checking out the stores downtown. _

"_We have some more time, so would you like to look for a hotel now?" He asked her while they walked slowly together. _

"_No, let's just take a look around some more. I've only been here once, I don't even remember."_

"_I've been here lots of times." Nathan shared and got a little smile in response. "Lucas and I were born in Tree Hill, and my dad and my grandpa had some business in Charlotte, so we came here all the time. That is, until we moved to New York."_

"_You liked to live here in North Carolina?"_

_Nathan shrugged and looked down for some seconds before giving an answer to that question. _

"_I don't know. We moved there when I was still much young, so I don't really know. I'm in New York for almost my entire life. But… I don't think it makes a difference."_

_Haley nodded and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. He was looking at her, she could tell that, but she was not going to say a thing. They were talking like normal people, and it was a rare occasion. Haley was starting to enjoy this occasions very much and she wondered if Nathan felt the same. _

"_My dad was around all the time. Either here or in New York… he was always there, you know? Always bullying me and making me feel awful." _

"_Yeah… well, it must have been hard."_

"_It was." Nathan took a deep breath and then continued. "Lucas was always the good kid. Dan never did anything to harm him or… anything like that. I was the unlucky one, as you can see. And since we didn't have our mom around, it's pretty easy to see it was a living nightmare."_

"_Lucas told me how Dan loved to be nasty to you."_

"_He still is, Haley. You know… Lucas is a lucky guy I guess. He wanted nothing to do with his company… and dad just let him get away with it. Lucas always got away with everything. I suppose he's the favorite son after all." _

"_There's no such thing as favorite son, Nathan…"_

"_To my dad it surely exists. Anyway… he's a prick and I don't want to spoil the day talking about him." He plastered a smile on his face and then looked at her. "We're supposed to have fun today."_

_Haley smiled broadly at him. _

"_So now you want to have fun with me…" She laughed and he playfully nudged her. _

"_Well, I'm stuck with you for the weekend, so I might as well have some fun."_

"_Yeah… that's right, mister."_

"_Are you up for some ice cream? Then we can look around some more and then look for a hotel."_

_Haley smiled happily at him. She took his arms in hers and they walked down the street comfortable talking to each other. She could live like that. Yeah, she really could. _

"_This is going to be cool." He spoke as soon as they entered the ice cream parlor some minutes later. _

"_What?"_

"_This… I mean, us. Today. It's going to be cool. I mean, I don't really love Three Days Grace, but I think this will be nice." _

"_I'm glad you agreed to come with me."_

"_I'm glad that I'm here." He smiled at her happily. _

_XxX_

_The crowd was wild and the show was actually great. Nathan was feeling good to be there, and he was sure Haley was having a blast, that was for sure. They got to be on a great spot, and she could see it pretty well, even though she was not tall. Haley was feeling comfortable with Nathan so close to her, his body almost glued to hers while she danced, sang and cheered. One of his hands was placed lightly on her hips, protectively holding her near him, while his other one was holding another beer they were sharing. The place was pretty much full of people and he didn't want to lose track of her for any second. _

"_Aren't they great!" Haley approached her face to his, speaking near his ear. She saw Nathan give her a warm smile and nod his head once. _

"_Yeah, they are."_

_She started clapping her hands as soon as they started the next song, and Nathan smiled quietly, content with the way things were now. They were having fun together. He didn't really want to come at first, but now he was sure he made the right decision. _

_**Every time we lay awake  
After every hit we take  
Every feeling that I get  
But I haven't missed you yet**_

_**Every roommate kept awake  
By every sigh and scream we make  
All the feelings that I get  
But I still don't miss you yet**_

_**Only when I stop to think about it**_

_Haley cheered loud as soon as they started the song, singing loudly. She loved that song. And she loved that song even more now, feeling Nathan getting closer and closer to her. He pushed her closer to him, offering her the can of beer, which Haley accepted, took a long swing and they gave back to him, singing again with the crowd. She felt when his right hand moved from just laying on her hip to fully embrace her. His fingers were lazily touching her hot skin that was exposed, near her jeans. She almost forgot all about the band and the show in that moment. Nathan's touch on her was something else. She didn't know if it was all the beers they had, but something was really going on, there was no doubt to that. _

_She felt his hot breath on her neck, and for a split second she really thought his mouth was going to land there, giving her a hot and wet kiss. But it didn't happen. Instead, he took a swing of his beer. Just that. No hot kisses tonight. _

_Haley couldn't understand why she was suddenly waiting for him to make a move on her. It was not like she wanted him to do it… was it? She didn't like Nathan. Nathan didn't like her. It was obvious and clear, everyone, even Lucas could see that. So why was he making her so nervous from some time now? It was difficult to think about that when his arm was wrapped around her tightly and when his ripped body was fully pressed to hers, joining her movements in a shy manner. Maybe he was too drunk to realize he was doing that. She decided it was time to stop having those thoughts about him. _

_**I hate everything about you  
Why do I love you?  
I hate everything about you  
Why do I love you?**_

_**Every time we lay awake  
After every hit we take  
Every feeling that I get  
But I haven't missed you yet**_

_**Only when I stop to think about it**_

_**I hate everything about you  
Why do I love you?  
I hate everything about you  
Why do I love you?**_

"_It's hot in here." He spoke on her ear, his hot breath again tickling her neck and sending shivers through her spine. Haley nodded her head, quickly agreeing with him. It was really hot in there. And if he didn't stop rubbing circles on her belly she would certainly pass out anytime soon. God, what was he doing to her?_

"_It is." She finally said. His hands didn't stop rubbing her lightly, and she decided to put her hand on his, caressing it slowly. She felt when Nathan wrapped his other arm around her waist, now fully embracing her. His chin was now resting on her shoulder, their faces touching slightly. Haley thought the moment was just right. She didn't even notice the song ended, she didn't even know the band was taking a short break… Nathan was holding her so tightly she couldn't think straight. His head started turning towards her, their eyes meeting in the process. She licked her lips unconsciously, waiting for him to do something. She saw when his blue eyes traveled to her lips, and then Haley knew it was now or never: Nathan was leaning in to her, he truly was. His lips were getting near and near, anytime now they would connect and then, things were going to change. She closed her eyes in anticipation, her heart beating frantically. But Nathan's lips never made it to meet hers. _

"_Can I take a picture? It's for free, courtesy of the club." A lady stopped near them, the two of them slowly breaking their embrace, the moment lost. _

_Nathan was the first one to snap out of it and actually say something. Haley couldn't read him right now. In fact, she thought she never could read him. _

"_Sure." He gave the woman a small smile. _

_He wrapped his arm around her waist and Haley happily did the same to him. She smiled widely to the camera and he gave small grin. The girl took the picture with the Polaroid and the quickly handed it to Nathan as soon as it was ready. _

"_You guys make such a cute couple." The girl gave them a small compliment and then left. _

_Nathan and Haley looked at the picture at the same time, both of them thinking about what the girl just said. They really looked good on that picture. They surely were a cute, good looking couple. _

_Unfortunately, that couple existed just inside that picture. _

_**Only when I stop to think  
About you, I know  
Only when you stop to think  
About me, do you know**_

_**I hate everything about you  
Why do I love you?  
You hate everything about me  
Why do you love me?**_

_**I hate  
You hate  
I hate  
You love me**_

_XxX_

"_So, here we are." Nathan smiled kindly at her as soon as they reached the hotel room. He opened the door for her, entering right after. The room was pretty nice, but not really fancy. He started to take off his shoes quietly while Haley decided to go lay on the other bed. _

_Nathan was awfully quiet since the show ended and they went back to the hotel, and she decided to give him some time. Maybe he was tired. Or maybe, he just was thinking about how they almost kissed. Well, she was thinking about that. She couldn't get the image off her head: his lips almost touching her, his blue eyes boring into her hazel ones… in that moment, Haley finally discovered she wanted to be kissed by Nathan. She really did. She thought he wanted it too, but he didn't try again after the girl asked to take their picture and probably never would. _

"_I'll go take a shower." Nathan announced moments after, Haley only nodding her head to him. "Do you want to go first?"_

"_No, you can go."_

"_Okay." _

_As soon as Nathan disappeared in the bathroom she closed her eyes, her mind scrambled by the beers and the thoughts of him. She wondered what would happen… that is, if something would happen. Even though it was crazy, she wanted him to try to kiss her again. _

**XxX**

Nathan entered the apartment with a frown. He had a bad day at work, and now he just had to face Haley and Lucas and all that marriage madness he was in. They were already there, talking to each other about something he couldn't hear.

"Hey." He greeted them quietly, sitting near them.

"Hey." Lucas greeted back and Haley gave him just a nod. "How was your day?"

"Horrible. I have a headache… dad came to piss me off, among other things. The usual."

Lucas chuckled. Nathan caught a glimpse of the magazine, his hands grabbing it slowly as he looked to the picture of them on the show. He almost smiled to that.

"I was saying Haley I didn't know you guys had a picture together." Lucas tried. Haley remained quietly watching Nathan, who stayed silently.

Nathan shook his head and put the magazine back on its place. Haley couldn't say what he was thinking about, but she wanted to. Nathan looked briefly at her and held her gaze for some seconds before he decided to look at his brother again, focusing on their real problem.

"I didn't even remember this thing." Nathan shrugged. "Maybe I was drunk, I don't know."

"You're such an ass, you know." Haley finally spoke, but instantly regretted it. She didn't want to be nasty or cause problems, but if Nathan wanted things this way, he would get it.

"Whatever, Haley." Nathan rolled his eyes at her. "So, we're getting married on Saturday. Is that good to you?"

She nodded quietly, not bothering to look at him again. Lucas shook his head, just observed the exchange between them, thinking about the whole situation his brother was in. He just wished the two of them could balance this 'relationship' and not kill themselves in the process. Lucas made an excuse and got up from the couch, signaling to the bathroom. Maybe they needed some time alone, even if it was to bite their heads off.

"So Saturday it is." Nathan announced shortly, right after Lucas went down the corridor. His eyes fell to the ground for some seconds and then he searched his pockets for something. Haley followed his movements silently, her mind full of doubts about that entire thing. "I uh… well, I got you a ring."

"A ring?"

"Yeah… I… well, since we're getting married, I thought I had to get you one. I hope you like it."

Haley watched with curiosity when Nathan opened the small black velvet box in front of her, showing her the beautiful ring he had bought. It was fancy, and certainly cost him a lot of money.

She couldn't get why he bothered to buy her such a posh engagement ring, but even though she didn't understand, Haley thought it was a nice gesture. Besides, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"It's so beautiful, Nathan…" She told him with enthusiasm. "It really is… thank you."

Nathan curved his lips in a small smile, satisfied, and then slowly placed the ring on her finger. Haley looked at it for some seconds, realizing they were really doing it, they would really get married. There was no way back now.

"My wife deserves the best, doesn't she?"

**To be continued…**

**A/N: The song used was I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace. **


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